Capacity of the Unused Bladder in End Stage Renal Disease
Atchara Mahayosnond MD*, Sommanus Nilpetchploy MD*
Affiliation : * Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University
Objectives : To evaluate the bladder capacity in patients diagnosed with end stage renal disease ( ESRD )
Materials and Methods : A six-month prospective study was conducted at the outpatient X-ray unit, Department
of Radiology, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital from July 2002 to January 2003. Datas from adult
patients sent to the unit for voiding cystourethrography (VCUG) were collected. Bladder capacity was
obtained by calculating the amount of contrast material introduced into the urinary bladder in each VCUG.
The urinary bladder was assumed to be at the maximum capacity when the patient had a strong desire to void
during contrast instillation. Patients with voiding dysfunction or neurogenic bladder were excluded from the
present study.
Results : There were 11 patients with ESRD (male=7, female=4, mean age=41 years) and 7 patients without
ESRD (male=1, female=6, mean age=41 years). The maximum bladder capacity was 400 ml for the ESRD
patients and 500 ml for the non-ESRD patients. The smallest bladder capacity was 100 ml for the ESRD
patients and 250 ml for the non-ESRD patients. The mean bladder capacity was 254.5 ml (+SD) for the
patients with ESRD and was 364.28 ml for the patients without ESRD. The P-value was 0.043.
In conclusion, the mean bladder capcity of the patients with ESRD was statistically smaller than that
of patients without ESRD.
Keywords : Bladder capacity, End stage renal disease, ESRD
