Trigonal sensitivity testing in women.

Tests of the integrity of bladder sensation are a poorly understood and often neglected part of urodynamic investigations. The electrical techniques that have been described to test sensation involve the use of costly and complex equipment; electrical current also is not the natural stimulator of bladder nerves. Trigonal sensitivity testing held promise as a simple, effective and inexpensive test of bladder sensation. We evaluated a modified version of this technique in 89 women: 78 had urodynamically proved lower urinary tract dysfunction and 11 were control patients. The technique proved to be of no value in distinguishing among various urodynamic diagnoses. In particular, patients with detrusor instability or bladder hypersensitivity showed no characteristic patterns on trigonal sensitivity testing. Sensitivity values correlated neither with the first sensation to void nor the cystometric bladder capacity during urodynamic testing. It does not appear to contribute any clinically useful information in the evaluation of lower urinary tract dysfunction in women.