Abstract: Three-Dimensional Ultrasound Device for Rapid Determination of Bladder Volume

Leonard S. Marks, Frederick J. Dorey, Maria Luz Macairan, Cindy Park, and Jean B. DeKernion. "Three-Dimensional Ultrasound Device for Rapid Determination of Bladder Volume." Urology 50 (1997) 3: 341-48.

Objectives:
* To assess the accuracy, reliability, and clinical utility of ultrasound measurement of bladder volume, using the BladderScan^®.

Methods:
* A study of 249 adult urology outpatients in a metropolitan Los Angeles practice was conducted.
* To study accuracy, volume measurements obtained by ultrasound were compared to catheterized volume. Patients were catheterized an average of 7.8 ± 4.3 minutes (range 3 to 33) after scanning.
* 81 of the accuracy studies were conducted using the 1994 model BladderScan^® BVI 2500, and 101 were conducted using the 1995 model BladderScan^® BVI 2500+, in order to test inter-device variability. The accuracy of the two machines was compared.
* To test inter-user reliability, 57 patients were scanned by a non-urologist MD and a research assistant in succession, using the same 1995 BladderScan^® model. The scans were completed within an average of 9.6 ± 5.2 minutes (range 4 to 29.5) of one another.
* All results were recorded in a blind manner, so that each scanner did not know what results the other scanner had obtained, nor did those recording the catheterized volume know the ultrasound scan results.

Results:
* "The device exhibited a sensitivity of 97%, a specificity of 91%, and an overall accuracy of 94%. These results were not affected by age, gender, height, weight, diagnosis, uterine presence/prostate size, or user experience."
* "The two observers, one a graduate physician and the other a college student, achieved essentially the same volume determinations. . . scan readings were not a function of the observer or transient changes in body position."

Conclusions:
* "Herein, we report the current device to be accurate and reliable when extensively tested in a general urology outpatient practice. Moreover, it should be cost-effective."
* "The present data confirm previous findings that very little training is required to obtain good-quality scans with this compact unit."
* "Avoidance of catheterization procedures via bladder scanning should prevent many urinary infections and allow substantial cost reduction."

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