Real time ultrasonograhy was used to assess bladder volumes in subjects with residual urine (RU). Postvoiding urinary bladder was scanned in both longitudinal and transverse planes at the largest diameter with the subject in the supine position, and each bladder area from these pictures was measured using a calculator.
A significant correlation (r=0.917, p<0.001) was found between the bladder area from the ultrasound picture on the midline longitudinal plane and the actual volume of RU obtained by catheterization.
As compared with healthy controls (N=56), some imaging of RU was more frequently found in diabetics with no evidence of organic urological disease (N=116), regardless of age, and 20 (17.2%) showed abnormal RU with a bladder area of over 10cm2. Most of the cases were poorlycontrclled, had a long duration of diabetes and revealed some neurolongical abnormalities including autonomic neuropathy, as judged from the coefficient of variation of the R-R interval in resting ECGs.
These results confirm that ultrasonography represents a reliable technique for detecting RU and suggest that RU in diabetics may have some relationship with neurological abnormalties.
