Urodynamic Testing in Alexandria, VA

Urodynamics is a group of tests that allow your physician to look at how your lower urinary tract works. Your lower urinary tract includes the bladder (which stores urine) and the urethra (which is the tube that carries urine from your bladder to the outside).

Potomac Urology is an expert urology practice committed to providing the highest quality care to patients throughout the Northern Virginia area in the diagnosis and treatment of urology-related conditions. Our team of urologists is dedicated to offering patients a broad range of quality urology services including urodynamic testing to find the cause of their urologic issues. Many urologic procedures can be performed within the office under local anesthesia and take between 5-30 minutes.

How does the lower urinary tract work?

The bladder’s responsibility is to store and empty your urine. The bladder muscle should stretch to allow the bladder to fill. The sphincter muscles at the bottom of the bladder should be tight and not let the urine leak out.

Your bladder muscle squeezes while the sphincter muscles and pelvic floor muscles relax and let the urine out.

Why would I need urodynamics?

Urodynamics helps identify specific problems related to the following symptoms:

• Loss of urine while coughing, sneezing, laughing, and/or exercising
• Not emptying your bladder completely
• Feeling of frequent and/or sudden need to urinate
• Weak or intermittent (stopping and starting) urine flow
• Frequent and/or recurrent urinary tract infections

What is urodynamics?

A catheter will be placed into your bladder. Through the catheter, your bladder will be filled and the pressure of your bladder muscle measured. The pressures outside the bladder will be measured by inserting another small soft catheter, into the rectum (male) or the vagina (female).

As the bladder fills, you will be asked questions about the way your bladder feels as it is filling. may also be asked to cough and push or bear down to check for any leakage. Small sticky patches are often placed on either side of the bottom to measure the electrical activity of certain muscles. When you feel your bladder is full, you will be asked to empty your bladder into a special commode. This lets us look at the function of your bladder as it empties.