NEW ORLEANS-Like sonar that plumbs the depths, ultrasound can fathom urinary volume.
In a study of 50 surgical patients and 59 volunteers, a Dutch team says it used an ultrasonic device to measure urinary volume noninvasively and avoid perioperative bladder distention.
With patients under a general, the team at Groningen’s University Hospital used the device (BladderScan, Diagnostic Ultrasound) to measure bladder urine three times and compare the mean with the volume found by catheterization.
Ultrasound volumes ranged from 11 to 680 ml in patients and 150 to 1,000 ml in volunteers. The correlation coefficient of the two methods was 0.95 in patients and 0.92 in volunteers, Dr. Tammo Brouwer told the American Society of Anesthesiologists meeting here. Postop volumes over 600 ml will probably still need catheterization, he added. -Elsie Rosner
