It is known by all that more and more society has a greater number of more reliable and reproducible tools to access all kinds of information, and obviously the health sector is not left out of this informative siege, parallel, on the other hand, to the scientific-bibliographic channels that every medical graduate acquires throughout his professional life and that can interfere, and we would even dare to affirm that even question, the professional opinion issued in a medical office. With this new context in which we find ourselves in demand for information in the offices, it is necessary to equip the medical offices with all those diagnostic tests that bring us closer to the reality of the health problem of patients with the greatest possible precision.
Urinary incontinence is undoubtedly one of the consultations with the highest annual prevalence in the specialty of urogynecology. There is ample evidence in the literature that up to between 30 and 70% of the population from the age of 30 may suffer at some point in their life some type of urinary continence disorder that alters their state socially, occupationally or psychologically of wellness. This is where, beyond the physical examination, routine analysis, ultrasound or cystoscopy, the urodynamic study acquires a fundamental role when it comes to making a reasoned, proven and guaranteed medical judgment of the possible causes of the type of incontinence that the patient suffers. Considering the extensive dimension of the census of the consultation of both PCV specialties, it is difficult to continue explaining why urogynecology is maintained without the provision of this exploration among the portfolio of services of its members, knowing that it will greatly improve the work of professionals and ultimately, it will grant greater veracity and recognition of a job well done. Which will ultimately result in an improvement in the score on the quality of care questionnaires by patients, objective number 1, without a doubt, of the course of a consultation of any medical specialty.
Urodynamics is performed not only in the diagnosis of stress, urge or mixed urinary incontinence, but is also used in the diagnosis of some type of neurological disease with a bladder target, recurrent urinary infections, bladder obstruction disorders and even in the prior diagnostic approach of prostatic obstructive pathology, needing to rule out a disorder of the proper functioning of the bladder muscle contractility prior to surgery.
It is a test of medium complication, which requires the placement of a fine urethral catheter and sometimes another transrectal, and progressive bladder filling to try to reproduce bladder behavior as far as possible with the essential collaboration of the patient in the answer to our questions. It lasts between 15 and 45 minutes and it is sometimes necessary to repeat some of the phases of the procedure, on an outpatient basis and after antibiotic prophylaxis. The results are immediate and are communicated to the patient even during the same procedure, thus delving into the patient’s satisfaction for leaving the urodynamic cabinet with part of the answers to their questions.
Dr. Héctor Hernández, specialist doctor in Urology/ Policlinica Comarcal del Vendrell
