1987 Volume 78 Issue 9 Pages 1613-1617
This paper reports urinary bladder dysfunction due to transverse myelopathy in two patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). One was a 48-year-old female with lumbago and limb numbness which developed in 1982. The symptom had never inproved and, furthermore, the patient began to complain of sensation of residual urine and difficulty of voiding. Cystometrography revealed hyperreflexia or uninhibited contraction of the bladder. Residual urine disappeared almost completely and good control was obtained about two years after treatment with clean intermittent self-catheterization and medication. The other patient was an 18-year-old female who developed limb tremor and fever in 1983 and was diagnosed as SLE. Loss of sense of urinary fullness and difficulty of voiding developed in the patient. As a result of clean intermittent self-catheterization, the patient at present is free of pyuria and residual urine.
Although uninhibited contraction of the detrusor persisted in these patients after the treatment, careful managements of micturition could keep the patients in a balanced condition, free of urinary tract infection, impermissible volume of residual urine and catheterizaton, with careful advice and training by neurourologists and well-trained paramedical staffs.
