✕
SIGN OUT

Urodynamics

Urodynamic testing is for both urinary dysfunction and urinary incontinence in men and women

Urodynamic testing can help determine the best clinical solution for the patient. Further, this exam can save you long term expense while driving significant passive income to your practice. Urodynamic testing can be very beneficial in determining the exact cause of your patients' incontinence symptoms. Proper urodynamic study reports will enable you to properly diagnose and move toward treatment that will have dramatic impacts on your patients' health.


Urodynamic tests are usually performed in UROLOGY, GYNECOLOGY, OB/GYN, INTERNAL MEDICINE, and PRIMARY CARE offices. Urodynamics will provide the physician with the information necessary to diagnose the cause and nature of a patient's incontinence, thus giving the best treatment options available. Urodynamics is typically conducted by a urologist, urogynecologist, or specialist urology nurse.

The tests are most often arranged for men with enlarged prostate glands, and for women with incontinence that has either failed conservative treatment or requires surgery.

Symptoms reported by the patient are often an unreliable guide to the underlying dysfunction of the lower urinary tract. The purpose of urodynamics is to provide objective confirmation of the pathology that a patient's symptoms would suggest.

For example, a patient complaining of urinary urgency (or rushing to the toilet), with increased frequency of urination can be said on the basis of their symptoms to have overactive bladder syndrome. The cause of this might be detrusor overactivity, in which the bladder muscle (the detrusor) contracts unexpectedly during bladder filling. Urodynamics can be used to confirm the presence of detrusor overactivity, which may help guide treatment. An overactive detrusor can be associated with urge incontinence. 


Urodynamics is a study that assesses how the bladder and urethra are performing their job of storing and releasing urine. Urodynamic tests help your doctor see how well your bladder and sphincter muscles work and can help explain symptoms such as: 

urge incontinence
stress incontinence
mixed incontinence
nocturia
retention
painful urination

frequent urination
sudden, strong urge to urinate
problems starting a urine stream
urinary tract infection (recurrent)

Since urinary incontinence is becoming so common, both patients and doctors are looking for a positive outcome. Patients have to be comfortable to bring up the concern to their doctors, and physicians must create an atmosphere where the discussion is proactive and the path to proper diagnosis and treatment is apparent.

Talk to patients

Doctors should be discussing this issue with their patients rather than waiting for the patients to disclose the problem themselves. For many patients, this issue  can be distressing and embarrassing causing them to avoid mentioning it.


Having an understanding and being proactive is not only a sound advice, but a requirement. 

specific tests

These tests involve imaging equipment that films urination and pressure monitors that record the pressure of the bladder and urethra.

A typical urodynamic test takes about 45 minutes to perform. It involves the use of a small catheter used to fill the bladder and record measurements. What is done depends on what the presenting problem is, but some of the common tests conducted are:          

-Uroflowmetry: free uroflowmetry measures how fast the patient can empty his/her bladder. Pressure uroflowmetry again measures the rate of voiding, but with simultaneous assessment of bladder and rectal pressures. It helps demonstrate the reasons for difficulty in voiding, for example, bladder muscle weakness or obstruction of the bladder outflow.
- (PVR) Post-void residual volume: Most tests begin with the insertion of a urinary catheter/transducer following complete bladder emptying by the patient. The urine volume is measured (this shows how efficiently the bladder empties). High volumes (180 ml) may be associated with UTI. A volume of greater than 50 ml has been described as constituting post-void residual urine. High levels can be associated with overflow incontinence.
- (CMG) Multichannel cystometry: measures the pressure in the rectum and in the bladder, using two pressure catheters, to deduce the presence of contractions of the bladder wall, during bladder filling, or during other provocative maneuvers. The strength of the urethra can also be tested during this phase, using a cough or Valsalva maneuver, to confirm genuine stress incontinence.
- (UPP) Urethral pressure profilometry: measures strength of sphincter contraction.

- (EMG) Electromyography measurement of electrical activity in the bladder neck.

Learn More about our services

Billing

Medicare reimbursement will range from $750-$900 per patient.
Our service includes all supplies and equipment, and a professional urodynamic technician, allowing you to lower costs and increase revenues.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to better understand the clinical, revenue and convenience factors associated with this service, please contact us.