Effect of Overnight Bladder Drainage on Posterior Urethral Valve Sequelae: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Posterior urethral valve (PUV) is the most common cause of bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) in boys. PUV induces damage to the smooth muscles of the bladder and ureter with subsequent damage to the renal parenchyma. All these sequelae begin antenatally and persist even after successful valve ablation.

The standard management of these sequelae includes timed voiding, double voiding, clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) to facilitate bladder emptying and anticholinergic drugs to improve poor bladder compliance. However, in some polyuric cases even voiding or catheterization as frequently as every 2 hours is not effective to maintain safe bladder volumes especially at night.

Overnight catheter drainage (OCD) of the urinary bladder has been increasingly suggested to be beneficial in protecting the upper tracts of patients with high urine output, defective and poorly compliant bladders, thus resulting in improvement of the renal function, hydronephrosis (HN) and the urodynamic changes as well.

Therefore, we hypothesize that OCD of the urinary bladder might improve bladder dynamics and subsequently lead to improvement or resolution of HN and renal function in boys who underwent PUV ablation.

Patients who have persistent HN and bladder dysfunction at least one year after PUV ablation will be randomly allocated into two groups: the first group (control group): 55 patients, their parents will be taught the timed voiding regimen every 2 hours, while the second group (OCD group): 55 patients, their parents will be taught the timed voiding regimen every 2 hours, in addition to placing an overnight catheter to drain the urinary bladder during night.