Uroflowmetry reflects symptom severity in men with LUTS

By Joanna Lyford, Senior medwireNews Reporter

Uroflowmetry is valuable for assessing disease severity in men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostatic hyperplasia, researchers believe.

The study found that prostate size was unrelated to the severity of LUTS whereas peak flow rate, measured using uroflowmetry, positively correlated with clinical symptoms.

Ramneesh Garg (Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, India) and team prospectively recruited 50 men older than 50 years with LUTS suggestive of benign prostatic hyperplasia. The men underwent a battery of tests including International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) assessment, ultrasound and uroflowmetry.

Symptom severity, derived from IPSS scores, was severe in 31 men and moderate in 19. While men with more severe symptoms tended to have larger prostates, this correlation was not significant.

On uroflowmetry, the mean peak flow rate was 10.6 mL/sec (range 3–19 mL/sec) and average flow rate was 6.0 mL/sec (range 2–14 mL/sec). Both these parameters significantly inversely correlated with symptom severity, with r values of –0.67 and –0.64, respectively.

A third measure, post-voiding residual volume (mean 117.8 mL, range 25–322 mL), also correlated with symptom severity, with an r value of 0.49.

Writing in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, Garg and co-authors note that uroflowmetry is a simple, noninvasive urodynamic tool that can be useful for assessing intravesicular obstruction.

This study indicates that prostate size, as measured with ultrasound, is unable to detect zonal enlargement. Other methods are therefore needed to judge disease severity and direct treatment.

“Among the parameters which were obtained by uroflowmetry, peak flow rate was the most representative of the symptom severity of the patient”, say the researchers.

They add: “Average flow rate also correlated positively with the symptoms of the patient, and it can be considered to be as good as peak flow rate in the assessment of symptom severity.”

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