Urethral diverticula in the adult female.

Urethral diverticulum in the adult female is an uncommon lesion which is practically ignored in the radiologic literature. The important symptom is incontinence. Because there is such poor clinical differentiation between stress incontinence, urgency incontinence, and post-void dribbling incontinence, we feel that any patient with incontinence that is not classical stress incontinence or of a neurologic cause should be investigated for urethral diverticulum. Six such patients plus one patient with a false positive panendoscopic examination are presented. Our method of examination with cinefluorography and conventional spot filming is explained. The urethrographic examination was found to be more reliable than the panendoscopic examination. When a discrepancy occurs, further studies are indicated.