Functional bladder neck obstruction in males: a progressive disorder?

Functional bladder neck obstruction is often an elusive cause of outlet obstruction in males. If the entity escapes timely diagnosis and treatment, it may progress to acute or chronic retention, terminating in renal failure. The diagnosis can be accurately made by a synchronous pressure flow electromyograph (EMG) study. This is a report on 16 men under 45 years of age encountered during the past 2.5 years. A high sustained detrusor pressure (mean 157 cm H2O) during voiding with poor flow (mean 9.89 ml/s) was observed in all patients. External sphincteric activity during EMG and video study was found to be completely quiescent at the time of voiding. All these patients had inadequate funneling and bladder neck opening. Some of these patients had intermittent bladder neck opening. Three patients presented with renal failure. Following therapy, renal function could be reversed back to normal in 2 patients. Clean intermittent catheterisation, pharmacotherapy using alpha-blockers and endoscopic bladder neck incision were the modalities used to treat this group of patients.