ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Recently, detrusor contraction duration (DCD) has been suggested to be a useful urodynamic parameter for differentiating bladder outlet obstruction. Therefore, we studied the relationship between DCD and bladder outlet obstruction to determine whether DCD is a useful parameter for characterizing bladder outlet obstruction with lower urinary tract symptoms in men. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The urodynamic records of 212 consecutive male patients with lower urinary tract symptoms subdivided into 4 groups as bladder outlet obstruction (BOO), detrusor underactivity (DU), detrusor instability (DI), and normal (NL). DCD was defined as the contraction time elapsed between the first rise in detrusor pressure from baseline to the time at which detrusor pressure returned to baseline at the end of voiding. The correlations of DCD with other urodynamic parameters were assessed. RESULTS: DCD was significantly increased in patients with BOO and DU groups compared to other groups (DI, NL) (p<0.05). However, DCD were only weakly correlated with other urodynamic obstructive parameters in the BOO groups. CONCLUSIONS: Since DCD may also depend on detrusor contractility and bladder volume, DCD alone cannot be used as obstructive parameters to diagnose bladder outlet obstruction. However, considering the fact that the bladder outlet obstruction can be easily differentiated from the decreased detrusor contractility with other urodynamic parameters, DCD seems to be useful proxy for evaluating bladder outlet obstruction.