STUDIO DELLA FASE MINZIONALE CON ECO-COLOR-DOPPLER

In the field of Ultrasonic diagnosis the application of Color-Code to pulsed Doppler signal is, undoubtely, the most up-to-date method, especially in relation to dynamic exploration of the lower urinary tract. Basing our study on the 'dramatically evident' Jet phenomenon, the input of urine into the bladder from the ureteral meatus, which is very evident in Color-Doppler imaging, we submitted 108 consecutive patients, who had come to us for a conventional transrectal ultrasound study of the prostate, to an echo-color pulsed-Doppler study. Results of the Doppler evaluation related to the presence of urethro-cervical obstruction were made and compared with the results of the transrectal micturitional sonography and uroflowmetry which were performed simultaneously. Three groups of patients were formed: normal, obstructed and intermediate; the last group offered interesting discordances in the results of the three methods of evaluation. In conclusion the Echo-Color-Doppler study of the micturition, according to our opinion, seems to be possible and easy to perform. It adds a 'quantum' of information as to the presence, the site and the degree of the urinary obstruction. Preliminary results seem to be encouraging, but the real value of a 'standard' performance of this study needs to be confirmed by a larger number of cases.