Urodynamics for Prostate Surgery Trial; Randomised Evaluation of Assessment Methods (UPSTREAM) for Diagnosis and Management of Bladder Outlet Obstruction in Men

Background and study aims: The prostate gland sits around the exit of the bladder in men. As men get older, the prostate grows, and this can narrow the exit from the bladder, so that there is restriction of flow. As a result, some men develop difficulty passing urine (voiding) as they age. For these men, prostate surgery can be helpful by removing the part of the prostate causing the narrowing, so that flow improves. However, for some men, almost identical symptoms of difficulty passing urine are due to underactive bladder. In other words, the bladder contraction is too weak, and is not effective at expelling the urine. This is a smaller group, but important, as these men may have no improvement after prostate surgery, while being exposed to risk of complications of surgery. Medical assessment of men with voiding problems typically involves discussing the symptoms, doing a physical examination of the prostate and measuring the urine flow rate. In many NHS hospitals, these are the only tests done before deciding whether to proceed to prostate surgery. In effect, voiding symptoms are presumed to be a result of prostate enlargement for these men, since it is the more common problem compared with bladder underactivity. However, this approach cannot identify which men actually have bladder underactivity as the cause of their voiding symptoms. So, in some hospitals an extra test is used, called urodynamics. Urodynamics is done to measure how much pressure the bladder generates when passing urine, because a high pressure shows the problem is obstruction, and a low pressure shows it is bladder weakness. Urodynamics involves gently putting a small tube into the bladder via the penis to measure the bladder pressure, and to fill the bladder with a sterile fluid (saline). Another small tube is gently placed into the rectum, via the anus, to measure abdominal pressures. Measuring abdominal pressure is necessary because any change in abdominal pressure can affect bladder pressure, and if the test did not allow for this it could give a misleading result. Urodynamics is safe, but some men find it uncomfortable or undignified, and a few develop urine infection afterwards. No studies have been conducted so far to tell us which of these two approaches to assessing men with voiding urinary problems is better overall.

UPSTREAM consists of two phases: "UPSTREAM - Phase I" was a pragmatic, two-arm, multicentre, randomised controlled trial (RCT) to determine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of invasive urodynamics (UDS) for the diagnosis and management of bladder outlet obstruction in men. Men from 26 urology departments of NHS Hospitals in England who had bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and were seeking further treatment, which may have included surgery, were randomised to one of two study arms; 'Routine Care' (as per the NICE diagnostic pathway), or routine care plus UDS ('Urodynamics'), which is currently optional. The design was utilised to establish noninferiority in symptom severity (International Prostate Symptom Score [IPSS]) 18-months post-randomisation. The primary outcome was IPSS at 18-months post-randomisation, and a key secondary outcome was the influence of UDS on rates of bladder outlet surgery. The RCT started 01 April 2014 and ended 30 September 2018.

In 2018, we were awarded an extension to conduct a further (long term) follow up of UPSTREAM participants, five years post-randomisation; "UPSTREAM - Phase II". We aim to identify: the symptom outcomes of treatment; definitive surgery rates in the two study arms; and the long-term impact of LUTS and its therapy. The focus will continue to be on effectiveness and patient outcomes as per the original commissioning brief. "UPSTREAM - Phase II" started 01 July 2019 and has a planned end date of 30 June 2022.