Neuropathic vesicourethral dysfunction in children. A trial comparing clean intermittent catheterisation with manual expression combined with drug treatment.

Forty-three children with overt neurological disease and neuropathic vesicourethral dysfunction were entered into a trial comparing clean intermittent catheterisation (CIC) with manual expression combined with drug treatment (non-CIC). The 22 children in the CIC group showed a significantly greater improvement in continence than the 21 children in the non-CIC group (P less than 0.001) without a significant increase in the incidence of urinary tract infections. Neither form of treatment is effective in reducing the risk of deterioration of renal function due to the combination of detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia and vesicoureteric reflux. Neither form of treatment improves continence in the presence of gross sphincter weakness or gross impairment of bladder compliance.