Abstract: Ultrasound Measurement of Urine Volume of Children with Neurogenic Bladder

Teresa L Massagli, Kenneth M. Jaffe, and Diana D. Cardenas. "Ultrasound Measurement of Urine Volume of Children with Neurogenic Bladder." Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 32 (1990): 314-18.

Objectives:
* To determine whether the BladderScan^® BVI 2000 can be used reliably to measure bladder volume in children.

Methods:
* Twenty children with neurogenic bladder or vesico-ureteral reflux, ages one month to sixteen years, participated in the study.
* Ultrasound measurements of the children's bladder volumes were made just before either routine catheterization for bladder emptying, or catheterization for urodynamics. The ultrasound measurements were then compared with the volumes obtained by catheterization.

Results:
* The simple correlation coefficient between ultrasound volume and catheterization volume was r = 0.94.
* The mean difference between the values for ultrasound volume and catheterization volume was 6.9ml.

Conclusions:
* "Using portable ultrasound equipment, urine volume measurements can be accomplished conveniently before and after voiding without risk or discomfort to the patient. In addition, the use of the BVI 2000 does not require training in ultrasound diagnosis."
* ". . . we have also found that inter-user reliability is quite good."
* "The BVI 2000 has been developed and modified using adult cases, and we wanted to know whether its accuracy and precision varied for children, whose bladder location, overlying soft tissues, bladder shape, and bladder volume might be different from adults. This study demonstrated that its accuracy and precision are clinically acceptable for small bladder volumes and over a wide range of patients, from infant to teenager."

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