Bladder wall thickness in normal adults and men with mild lower urinary tract symptoms and benign prostatic enlargement

There is evidence that increased bladder wall thickness can be a useful par ameter in the evaluation of men with clinical benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). However, normal values for bladder wall thickness (BWT) in adults ha ve not been established. BWT was measured by suprapubic ultrasonography. Bl adder volume was calculated as the product of the ultrasonographic measurem ents of bladder height, width and depth, and a correction factor (0.6). Thr ee groups were assessed: men with normal lower urinary tracts (n = 172; mea n age, 39.9), women with normal lower urinary tracts (n = 166; mean age, 37 .8), and men with mild lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and clinical ben ign prostatic enlargement (BPE) (n = 150; mean age, 66.4). For the whole gr oup of men and women with normal bladders, mean BWT was 3.35 mm, and BWT ap peared normally distributed. There were a weak negative correlation with bl adder volume (r = -0.12, P < 0.003) and a weak positive correlation for BWT and age for both men (r = 0.12, P < 0.014) and women (r = 0.17, P < 0.013) . Mean BWT was 3.04 mm in healthy women, 3.33 mm in healthy men, and 3.67 m m in men with LUTS and BPE. Sub-dividing normal men into different age grou ps showed an increasing mean BWT of 3.08 mm (<20 years, n = 27), 3.25 mm (2 1-40 years, n = 75), 3.42 mm (41-60 years, n = 39), and 3.57 mm (>60 years, n = 31) for those sub-groups. BWT in normal adult women is 3.0 +/- 1 mm an d 3.3 +/- 1.1 mm in normal adult men. A small increase in BWT with age is s een for both genders, and BWT tends to be greater in men than in women. Men with LUTS and BPE show a moderate increase in BWT. Adjustments for bladder volume are for practical purposes negligible, although there is a small de crease in BWT with increasing volume. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.