The Place of the Ice Water Test (IWT) in the Evaluation of the Patients with Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury.

ABSTRACT

In the last decades, functional Urology developed itself as a subspecialty, and, although is strongly linked to Urology, it has its own language, devices and dedicated people. The ice water test (IWT) was first described in 1957 and gained its place in the armamentarium of functional urologists for the coming years. Now, when urodynamic devices are more and more complex and sensitive, when neuromodulation and neurostimulation are gaining popularity and with the terminology changes of the last decade, one can wonder if a 50 years old test may still be of some use. We performed a prospective study using the ice water test in 150 consecutive patients referred to us for urodynamics in order to identify if there is any improvement in the diagnostic process. The patients were referred for varied indications, but a large number of them were neurogenic, given the special profile of our unit. We classified the patients in four different groups and analyzed the data for each group. The results showed that, while there is no use of the IWT as a routine procedure, the test might prove extremely useful in selected cases.