A Study of the Validity of Voiding Pressure — Flow Plot Interpretation in Clinical Urodynamics

The principles of urodynamic investigation and our approach to them using microcomputer technology have been described in the previous chapter. This paper describes a specific application of our technique to diagnosis. Although many departments have access to simple urodynamic procedures there are a number of situations where it is not possible, without the use of more complex investigations such as videocystometry, to exclude outflow obstruction or to clarify the pathology. In addition, the successful interpretation of urodynamic data is largely subjective and dependent on the investigator’s experience. We have studied an alternative method of diagnosing the presence of lower urinary tract obstruction from urodynamic traces, made possible by microcomputers, which is easier to use because it depends on “pattern recognition”. The human brain may be more efficient at interpreting the meaning of patterns than it is at interpreting numeric data. Microcomputers enable us to plot the analogue data obtained from urodynamic studies in a variety of different ways. We have used a microcomputer system, described in the previous chapter, to generate specific plots which have very characteristic patterns depending on the pathological circumstances.