Assessment of bladder wall thickness in women with overactive bladder.
OBJECTIVE
To compare bladder wall thickness (BWT) between female patients with overactive bladder (OAB) and aged-matched healthy controls.


METHODS
Thirty-six female patients with OAB and 31 healthy women were enrolled in the present prospective observational study. Qmax and Qave were measured by using uroflowmetry in all of the women in the patient and control groups, and also maximum bladder capacity (MBC), post- void residual urine (PVRU), prevoiding and postvoiding BWT were measured by using transabdominal ultrasound. Lower urinary tract symptoms of the participants were assessed by using Overactive Bladder Version-8 (OAB-V8) and International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF). All of the data were statistically compared between the patient and control groups. In the patient group, the relationships between parameters were evaluated correlation analysis.


RESULTS
The mean age of the patients and controls were similar (respectively, 45.58±12.35 and 44.21±11.60 years (p=0.68). The mean pre- and post-voiding BWT, OAB-V8 and ICIQ-SF scores of the patients were significantly higher than the controls. In the patient group, the moderate positive correlations between BWT with Qmax (p=0.02) and Qave (p=0.02) were found.


CONCLUSIONS
This study showed that the BWTs of the female patients with OAB are higher than those of healthy women. Further studies should investigate the changes in BWT of patients with OAB after treatment of OAB.
Department of Urology, Celal Bayar University School of Medicine, Manisa, Turkey.
Oktay
O
Üçer
Department of Urology, Celal Bayar University School of Medicine, Manisa, Turkey.
Bilal
B
Gümüş
Department of Urology, Celal Bayar University School of Medicine, Manisa, Turkey.
Ali Can
AC
Albaz
Department of Radiodiagnostic, Celal Bayar University School of Medicine, Manisa, Turkey.
Gökhan
G
Pekindil
Bladder wall thickness; diagnosis; overactive bladder; women