Outcomes of women diagnosed with primary bladder neck obstruction based on video urodynamic criteria

Objective: Functional and anatomic bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) in women are more prevalent than previously suspected and remain a diagnostic challenge. Several urodynamic diagnostic criteria for female BOO have been proposed, but studies validating the criteria by assessing treatment outcomes are lacking. We sought to correlate video urodynamic (VUD) diagnostic criteria with symptom improvement in women with functional bladder outlet obstruction.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of women diagnosed with primary bladder neck obstruction (PBNO) by VUD criteria who underwent bladder neck incision (BNI) between 2010 and 2022 was performed. Patient demographic, clinical, and urodynamic characteristics were collected before and after treatment and analyzed.

Results: Twenty-six women with mean age 64.7 years underwent BNI. Nineteen patients (73.1%) were cured, four (15.4%) improved, and three (11.5%) failed. After BNI the mean postoperative Qmax was significantly higher (9.4 vs. 3 mL/s, p = 0.006) and mean postvoid residual (PVR) was significantly lower (102 vs. 514 mL, p ≤ 0.001). Patients who did not require a catheter preoperatively were more likely to be cured than those who did (90% vs. 62.5%, p = 0.03). The PdetQmax of patients that were cured or improved did not differ significantly from those who were not (50.7 cm H₂O vs. 32 cm H₂O, p = 0.21).

Conclusions: The diagnosis of PBNO by VUD criteria for obstruction correlated with treatment outcomes with success in 88.5% and 56% becoming catheter independent. Successful treatment was independent of preoperative PdetQmax.