Measurement of detrusor wall thickness in women with overactive bladder by transvaginal and transabdominal sonography: Reply to comment by Schaefer

摘要

I appreciate Dr. Werner Schaefer's critical comments [1] on our article [2]. First, I agree that the correction of detrusor wall thickness (DWT) should be made using the square of the radius of the bladder rather than the radius alone. In most patients the bladder is assumed to be spherical when it has content. However, sometimes it is not spherical and can be compressed externally by the peritoneum. This can be demonstrated from the DWT in transvaginal sonographic measurement in this study. Therefore, the measurement of DWT should be carefully interpreted and the bladder volume should be reported as well. The DWT should be corrected (or normalized) according to bladder volume for any comparison. The formula I employed in correction of DWT for bladder volume was based on two-dimensional thinking and used the largest cross-section of the bladder for measurement of detrusor wall area and conversion to DWT: DWT1 = R2/R1 x DWT2. I have recalculated the raw data using the square or radius to correct DWT; the results seem similar.