Trying to predict 'dangerous' bladders in children: the area under the curve concept.

OBJECTIVE: Children with neurological and non-neurological lower urinary tract dysfunction normally undergo video urodynamics. One reason is to try to diagnose 'dangerous' bladders. Currently, bladder compliance is used to predict 'dangerous' bladders; however, in children there are no standardized methods of measurement and thus no 'cut-off' values. Compliance may also be normal even though high-pressure detrusor overactivity waves may exist during the filling phase of urodynamics. We tried to determine whether measuring the area under the detrusor pressure curve (AUC) during the filling phase of urodynamics would be a useful parameter in predicting 'dangerous' bladders. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Children referred to the urodynamics unit at Southmead Hospital, a tertiary referral centre, from 2000 to 2004 were investigated. Although 130 patients were identified, only 15 patients had raw data which were analysable using the available computer software. RESULTS: There was no correlation between the AUC and predicting 'dangerous' bladders possibly due to limitations in the computer software. CONCLUSION: Although the study did not reveal any correlation between the AUC and 'dangerous' bladders, it revealed the limitations of the available computer software in determining AUC, and highlighted the need for new standardized software and multinational, multi-centre trials to look into the concept of AUC. There is also a need for the International Continence Society to standardize methods and terminology in predicting 'dangerous' bladders.