Electrovesicography in benign prostatic hyperplasia.

The electric activity of the urinary bladder (UB) as demonstrated by electrovesicogram (EVG) was studied in 26 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and in 10 healthy volunteers. Ten of the BPH patients were in the compensated stage and 16 were in the decompensated stage. Three electrodes were applied to the skin of the hypogastric area and one reference electrode was applied to the lower limb. Recordings were made from the full and empty UB and after the residual urine had been evacuated. In healthy volunteers, pacesetter potentials (PPs) were recorded as triphasic waves from the full and empty UB. Amplitudes were lower in the empty than in the full UB (p < .05), and were reproducible in the individual subject. The EVG of the compensated prostatic patients showed, in both the full and empty UB, PPs of higher frequency, amplitude, and velocity than that of the controls (p < .01 and p < .05, respectively), a condition called "tachyvesica." In the decompensated prostatic patients, the EVG showed a bradyarrhythmic pattern in the full UB and a silent pattern in the empty UB. It would appear that EVG recorded for BPH could be used to differentiate the compensated from the decompensated hyperplastic prostate. The technique is simple, easy, noninvasive, nonradiologic, and without complications when compared with other investigative methods.