There’s various ways to evaluate and treat Neurogenic Bladder depending on what investigation might show. The important part of a visit would be of course, a history as to not only what a patient’s urinary symptoms might be but what other underlying conditions do they have specifically looking for neurological problems such as Stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, Spinal Cord Injury, Diabetes, anything that can have secondary neurological problems may end up having an effect on bladder and a voiding pattern.

After obtaining a thorough history, normally physical exam is performed to check for anatomy of the urinary tract structures. We will almost always do a urinalysis to look for infection, blood cells in the urine, things that might influence our investigation or treatment. Neurogenic Bladder can really have a lot of different manifestations. As far as the urinary habits are concerned and a voiding pattern. A so-called Spastic Neurogenic Bladder might be someone that has difficulty controlling their urine, they have sudden urges to void, they may not be able to get to the bathroom in time.

Oftentimes there’s also some mobility issues that factor into this. Other patients with a Neurogenic Bladder actually almost have paralysis of the bladder muscle and have difficulty urinating, inability to empty their bladder or what we call Urinary Retention and certainly the treatment options and the evaluation is gonna vary widely based upon not only what the urinary symptoms are but what their underlying neurological condition is. When evaluating with a patient with a suspected Neurogenic Bladder, we often do further studies.

One of the most helpful studies is something called Video Urodynamics that’s a procedure that we do here in the office. It really involves inserting a small catheter in the bladder, gradually filling the bladder with water and measuring bladder pressures, looking for abnormal bladder contractions, trying to demonstrate if there’s actually a leakage in the bladder or whether there’s poor sensation of the bladder and those kinds of information may help determine a course of treatment.

Neurogenic Bladder is usually able to be managed with various forms of therapy. It could involve medication, could involve various drainage procedures for the bladder. Sometimes we actually have to teach patients how to use a catheter to drain their own bladder. So I think that almost all of the people can be helped, to some extent but coming up with a proper diagnosis allows us to improve their overall condition and quality of life.

If you feel that you’re having urinary problems and a previous neurological diagnosis and need help with those kind of symptoms please contact our office at Northwoods Urology of Texas. If you want more information about Video Urodynamics please refer to one of our previous videos where that procedure should be thoroughly explained.

For further information about Video Urodynamics, please watch this video.