“UROFLOWMETRY: A PREDICTOR OF SEVERITY AND OUTCOME IN PATIENTS WITH OBSTRUCTIVE LOWER URINARY TRACT SYMPTOMSâ€

Abstract

Background:
Assessment by uroflowmetry forms an essential element in the evaluation of patients with
Obstructive Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS). Uroflowmetry non-invasively estimates
the bladder capacity and delineates Qmax( maximum flow rate) and voiding patterns. It is
vitally important to assess the utility of such a non-invasive test in assessing the severity and
predicting the outcome in patients with obstructive LUTS(Lower urinary tract symptoms).
The study was aimed to study the role of uroflowmetry in adult males presenting with
obstructive lower urinary tract symptoms; to statistically analyze and compare the
uroflowmetry results in pre-treatment /pre-operative periodwith post-treatment/post-operative
period in adult male patients with obstructive lower urinary tract symptoms.
Methods:
This prospective study was conducted from November 2019 over a period of one year. 50
adult male patients over the age of 50 years with obstructive LUTS due to benign prostatic
hyperplasia (prostate size more than 30 grams) and bladder neck contractures were included
in the study. The patients were treated conservatively or managed surgically based on the
prostate size and the willingness of the patient to get operated upon. Uroflowmetry was
performed before starting the treatment and post-surgery at the time of discharge and
3months after starting treatment in cases where conservative management was done, and the
results were analyzed.
Results:
There was a significantly very high strong positive correlation between the pre-treatment and
post-treatment voided volume (r-value = 0.852, P < 0.0001) and Maximum Flow rates (rvalue = 0.776, P<0.0001),There was statistically significant difference of mean between pretreatment and post-treatment Flow Time (t-value = 4.751, P < 0.0001), whereas there was no
statistically significant difference of mean between pre-treatment and post-treatment Time to
maximum flow (t-value = 1.187, P = 0.241).A significantly strong low positive correlation
was seen between the pre-treatment and post-treatment for average flow rate. (r-value = 0.42,
P = 0.002).