Voiding dysfunction in patients with human T-lymphotropic-virus-type-1-associated myelopathy.

Voiding dysfunction in patients with human T-lymphotropic-virus-type-1-associated myelopathy (HAM) was studied. All the patients were diagnosed as having HAM by neurologists. We have already reported on 16 consequent patients with HAM. Almost all of these patients had frequency, and many had urge incontinence of urine and difficulty on voiding. Urodynamic study revealed that their voiding symptoms seemed to be due to detrusor hyperactivity and detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia. However, we have recently treated 2 patients who had a different bladder function. They had both frequency and difficulty in voiding but without urgency. In the urodynamic study both patients did not have involuntary bladder contraction during the filling phase and could not void voluntarily. The reason why these 2 patients had an underactive detrusor is unclear. The fact that the average duration of HAM in the 16 patients previously mentioned was longer than that of the latter 2 patients may suggest that overactivity of the bladder is not prominent in the early phase of this disease.