Uroflowmetry is an advanced technology method for testing the quantity, speed and time for a patient to exude urine. It is a non-invasive, painless, fast and objective test method giving information on the functioning of the lower urinary tract and it employs urinating in a special apparatus. The bladder needs to be full for the testing and so the patient is required to take in 1 litre of liquid and wait optimally before exuding it.
This testing method provides unique and crucially important information for the follow-up choice of therapy, however it is currently applied in few medical establishments in Bulgaria. This test could allow avoidance of unnecessary surgery or its precision for the best possible outcome. We, at Medicus Alpha, have been applying it as a routine test for three years now.
It is recommended for men, women and children with one of the following symptoms:
- Frequent urges to urinate
- Difficult start of the process of urination
- Interruption of the process of urination
- Weak and unstable flow of urine
- Sensation of not fully emptied bladder
- Irresistible urges to urinate
- Frequent and recurrent uroinfections
- Overactive bladder
- Nocturia (urinating twice or more at night)
- Incontinence (unretaining of urine)
Uroflowmetry is a basic screening. This examination is helpful for the differential diagnosis of conditions and diseases characterized with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). The technology of performing it is such that the result comes out automatically as a graph. Thus the urologist can have a distinct and detailed information on urine flow – an important criterion in the lower urinary tract diseases. The graph represents:
- the quantity of urine per urination
- duration of the process of urination
- maximal urine discharge
- time for reaching the maximal urine discharge
- mean urine discharge