Extramural ambulatory urodynamic monitoring during natural filling and normal daily activities: evaluation of 100 patients.

Conventional urodynamic tests are short and performed under nonphysiological circumstances. The introduction of ambulatory urodynamic tests is a promising improvement of our diagnostic abilities with respect to these disadvantages. To test the value of our ambulatory urodynamic method we evaluated 100 patients with urinary incontinence and/or voiding problems by both diagnostic methods. Pre-classification according to medical history was compared with the urodynamic diagnosis obtained from the conventional and extramural ambulatory monitoring methods, and the combination of both techniques in patients with urinary incontinence. The conventional method showed no abnormalities in 32% of the patients, compared to only 3% with the ambulatory method. The conventional method confirmed pre-classified stress incontinence in 36% of the patients, compared to only 14% by extramural ambulatory monitoring. Combining both methods, pre-classified stress incontinence was confirmed in 43% of the patients. Pre-classified urge incontinence was confirmed in 47%, 59% and 84%, and pre-classified mixed incontinence was confirmed in 23%, 29% and 55% of the patients using the conventional, extramural ambulatory monitoring and combination methods, respectively. An over-all correlation with the pre-classification in the incontinence group was found in 34% with the conventional method and 43% with extramural ambulatory monitoring. Combining both diagnostic tools showed a correlation with the pre-classification in 67% of the patients. These results show the promising impact of ambulatory urodynamic testing in the near future.