Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center

Urology and Continence Center

Diagnostic Services

Assessing New Patients

Accurate diagnosis is essential to effective treatment. At Memorial Hermann-TMC you’re assured of access to leading-edge diagnostic testing, including urodynamic studies that allow your physician to pinpoint the cause of bladder problems related to the storing or emptying of urine.

Your physician will begin by collecting information to aid in diagnosis during an office visit. Please be prepared to discuss your medical history, including medications you’re taking, risk factors for urinary problems, eating habits, bowel habits and previous treatments for urinary or reproductive tract problems.

You may be asked to keep a urolog, or bladder diary, a journal recorded over a designated period of time tracking your intake of liquids and frequency of bladder emptying.

Your physician will do an abdominal, rectal and pelvic exam to check for growths, pelvic muscle tone and/or prolapse, constipation or hard stools, nerve function and other conditions.

You may be scheduled for a cystoscopy, a visual examination of the urethra and bladder to look for abnormalities, or a voiding cystourethrogram, an x-ray that uses contrast liquid to show the shape of the lower urinary tract, its position in the body and any abnormalities that may be present.

Bladder stress and Bonney tests may be required. For the Bonney test, the bladder neck is lifted while the bladder is stressed to determine whether incontinence is caused by placement of the bladder too low in the pelvis.

Urodynamic studies involve the placement of small catheters in the bladder and vagina to check for leakage, capacity and pressure in the bladder. Urodynamic cystometry studies include leak point pressure, which measures weakness in the sphincter, and maximum urethral closure pressure, to measure the pressure generated by the urethra. Cystometry studies are particularly helpful in diagnosing stress and urge urinary incontinence. Urodynamic testing can also assess the neurological coordination of the urethral and bladder musculature, which enables your doctor to design a treatment plan personalized to your particular condition. Studies are done on an outpatient basis and usually take 30 to 45 minutes.

For more information about diagnosis and treatment of urinary conditions, call the Memorial Hermann Urology and Continence Center at 713-704-2494.