Urethral cultures in patients with spinal cord injury.

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective analysis. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the colonization of the distal urethra and bladder during the initial stages of rehabilitation in acute spinal-cord injury (SCI) and to examine the association between bacteriuria and colonization of the distal urethra. SETTING: Selcuk University Meram Faculty of Medicine, Konya, Turkey. METHODS: A total of 27 patients with SCI (13 females and 14 males) and 40 controls without evidence of disease of the urinary tract were studied. Cultures were taken from the patients who applied clean intermittent catheterization and compared with normal subjects. RESULTS: Escherichia coli was predominantly isolated from the urine and urethral cultures of both female and male SCI patients. Colonization of other bacteria in the urine and urethral cultures was similar in both female and male patients, except for Pseudomonas, which was colonized in male patients. In all, 72% of patients who had E. coli positive urethral cultures also had E. coli colonization in their simultaneous urine cultures. There was concordance between urethra and urine cultures concerning the growth of E. coli (P=0.82). When urethral cultures collected 1 week before were evaluated in patients with E. coli positive urine cultures (n=24 cultures), 15 of these urethral cultures also had E. coli colonization. There was concordance between urethra and urine cultures concerning the growth of E. coli (P=0.66). CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggested that urethral flora was a significant source for the development of urinary infection in spinal cord-injured patients.

Diurnal variation of antidiuretic hormone and urinary output in spinal cord injury.

INTRODUCTION: Healthy individuals have a nocturnal decrease in urine output due to increased plasma antidiuretic hormone levels at night. This does not occur in spinal cord injury and most patients experience nocturnal polyuria, which triggers dysreflexic crises secondary to urinary bladder overdistension, and interferes with patients' sleep due to the need for extra catheterization. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diurnal variation in ADH level, urinary output, and plasma and urine osmolality in SCI patients with regard to their level of injury and in comparison with age- and sex-matched healthy individuals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixteen ASIA-A spinal cord-injured patients, eight with paraplegia, eight with tetraplegia, and eight healthy individuals, were evaluated for urinary output, urine and serum osmolality, and antidiuretic hormone levels during day and night hours. RESULTS: Absence of diurnal variation in urinary output and antidiuretic hormone secretion was detected in both paraplegic and tetraplegic patients, while antidiuretic hormone levels rose significantly at night in the control group. CONCLUSION: Antidiuretic hormone levels should be monitored both day and night in spinal cord injury patients, with severe nocturnal polyuria. Treatment with desaminocystein-D-arginine vasopressin can be attempted when conservative measures fail to control nocturnal polyuria, especially in patients who are on an intermittent catheterization program.