[Method of colpo-urethrocystography. Part I: Method-dependent reproducibility and interpretation of colpo-urethrocystograms - comparison between chain and wick techniques (author's transl)].

Two colpo-urethrocystographic examinations each were applied to twelve patients with functional urinary incontinence and to one continent woman. A ball chain and a wick were used for urethra marking, with the view to identifying possible effects of metallic foreign bodies on physiological parameters of the urethra and urethrovesical transition. The findings obtained from the two techniques were clearly different. Visibility of details and diagnostic information were unambiguously improved in the wake of the wick technique. Morphological changes in the urethral region and urethrovesical transition were recordable by the ball chain method. The two techniques yielded differentiated data of PUV and PU angles. Examinations were undertaken in two hospitals on a rotational basis for more information about reproducibility and for better comparability of findings obtained by different examiners. Such approach was considered to be essential to general assessment of the methods reviewed.