The Correlation of an ICS-male Questionnaire for Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms and Bladder Outlet Obstruction Parameters in Korea / 대한비뇨기과학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We investigated the prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), and the inconvenience of each symptom, using an ICS-male Questionnaire (ICS-mQ) in Korean man. We also evaluated the relationships between symptoms, prostate volume and urodynamic parameters of a bladder outlet obstruction (BOO). MATERIALS AND METHODS: 180 male LUTS patients, from 7 urological institutions, were enrolled in this study. The ICS-mQ was used to measure the severity of the symptoms, with a bothersomeness scale. Transrectal sonography and urodynamic studies, including Schaefer linear passive urethral resistance relation (L-PURR), were performed. RESULTS: The 5 most frequent symptoms were voiding symptoms, such as reduced stream, terminal dribbling, incomplete emptying, intermittency and hesitancy, in that order. However, the 5 most bothersome symptoms included 2 voiding, and 3 storage, symptoms, such as incomplete emptying, urge incontinence, pain in bladder, nocturnal incontinence and hesitancy. 34.4% of the nocturia patients felt quite, or severely, bothered, but only 1.1% felt no problem. The mean value of estimated prostate volume, by sonography, was 29.8+/-14.1ml. There were no correlations between the severity of symptoms and the prostate size. There were also little, or no, correlations between a wide range of symptoms and the urodynamic parameters of BOO. CONCLUSIONS: The most frequent symptoms of male patients with LUTS are voiding symptoms, but they suffered more from storage, than from voiding, symptoms. The severities of the symptoms, or the bothersomeness, were not correlated with the prostate size or the urodynamic parameters of a bladder outlet obstruction. Therefore, the relief of a bladder outlet obstruction is not crucial to relieve the symptoms.