Lumbar spondylosis and neuropathic bladder: investigation of 73 patients with chronic urinary symptoms.

Seventy-three patients presented with either chronic urinary symptoms such as incontinence, retention, and recurrent urinary infection or chronic low back pain and neurogenic claudication. Lumbar spondylosis was considered to be the major cause of the urological and skeletal symptoms; the diagnosis of a neuropathic bladder depended as much on features in the history as on the results of urological and neurological investigations. The preoperative demonstration of significant lumbar spondylosis was often difficult, but decompressive laminectomy in 34 patients produced relief of urinary symptoms and improvement in bladder function in 75%.