Bladder evacuating capacity after renal transplantation.

Using the radioisotope method, we examined the residual bladder volume in 30 persons without kidney and urinary tract disease, 71 patients with recurrent urinary tract infections and 56 renal transplant patients. The results showed significantly higher bladder volumes in patients with urinary tract infection than in transplant patients without urinary tract infection, non-transplant patients with urinary tract infections and subjects without urinary tract disease. Increased residual bladder volume, which is a manifestation of disturbed bladder evacuating capacity, is not related to age, the length of the postoperative period, the presence of vesicoureteral reflux, or the pretransplantation level of diuresis. The results suggest that the major factor responsible for the disturbed evacuating capacity is the degree of bladder wall injury sustained on neo-ureteral implantation. Functional disturbances render the bladder prone to bacterial invasion of the lower urinary tract and recurrent urinary tract infection.