Is catheter cause of subjectivity in sensations perceived during filling cystometry?

Can a faked cystometry deceive patients in their perception of filling sensations? A study on the reliability of spontaneously reported cystometric filling sensations in patients with non‐neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction

“…It is not surprising that some patients report some filling sensation, even without any bladder distension. As suggested by Erdem et al, 10 the presence of the urethral catheter may induce some sensation, concordant with the observation that the presence of the urethral catheter itself changes activity in brain regions associated with bladder filling and perceiving bladder sensations.…”

“…7 This is not surprising since bladder volume is not the sole determinant in the perception of filling as for example localized bladder activity might also play a role. 11 Recently, the validity of the reported sensations during cystometry has been questioned by Erdem et al 9,10 They observed during faked cystometries, that around 80% of the patients spontaneously reported a FSF and FDV and 25% a SDV. Based on these data, they suggested that the reported filling sensations do not depend on the infused volume, and that the evaluation of filling sensations during cystometry is not reliable.…”

“…8 Recently, the validity of the evaluation of filling sensations during cystometry has been challenged by data in two consecutive studies that showed that if patients are told that cystometric bladder filling occurs, more than half of them report desire to void and up to 25% report strong desire to void (SDV) even when the bladder is not filled at all. 9,10 Because such findings may jeopardize the reliability of the evaluation of filling sensation during cystometry in patients with non-neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction, we repeated the protocol and evaluated bladder filling sensations during real filling cystometry and during faked cystometry without bladder filling.…”

How should bladder sensation be measured?: ICI‐RS 2011

“…In addition, we do not know if these sensations are also experienced during physiological bladder filling. Another issue with the data gathered from previous studies is that the available data on sensations might be biased through the instruction given to the patient or the interpretation of the data by the researcher, which could explain the discrepancies between different studies 40–42. If during ambulatory urodynamics, sensations are only self reported or indicated by the patient via a marker button, a different pattern of sensations can be seen.…”

Measuring bladder sensation: A clinical and laboratory approach

“…The varying urodynamic fi ndings may be explained by several factors, including the presence of the urodynamic catheter, fi lling rates, patient instructions, and patient central processing and cortical fl uctuation in interpretation [17]. De Wachter et al [18•] evaluated the reliability of spontaneous reported bladder sensations during real and faked cystometry in patients with nonneurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction.…”