Work-up and Confirmation of Diagnosis
In the last four years, guidelines for the management of enuresis have gained popularity as a means of standardizing care. In all, the diagnostic approach can be summarized as making certain that the enuresis is “monosymptomatic”: ruling out significant anatomic and neurologic causes, as well as separating out those patients with daytime symptoms.
A carefully obtained history, a thorough physical examination and urinalysis are sufficient for most children who present with bedwetting. The aim of this evaluation is to identify those children who require further investigation. Parents should be questioned about their family history and the child's medical history. Careful questioning of parents and children can be extremely helpful in determining the type of enuresis and a possible cause or contributing factors.
Children with enuresis usually have normal results upon physical examination. However, in cases of enuresis the physician needs to check the flanks and abdomen for masses, including an enlarged bladder. The lower back should be inspected for cutaneous lesions, dimples or any variant of spina bifida. Often an anal wink can be elicited, which suggests that local spinal cord reflexes are intact.
Urinalysis is performed to assess specific gravity (can the child concentrate their urine?) and urinary glucose level (to rule out diabetes mellitus), in addition to blood/protein analysis (signs of nephrologic abnormalities), and to rule out urinary tract infection. If the history, physical examination and urinalysis are negative, no further investigations (such as radiographic studies or cystoscopy) are needed.
The authors of the consensus paper on guidelines for the management of enuresis proposed a two-step approach [9]. Assuming the basic work-up is normal, they recommended treating constipation, regulating eating and drinking habits, and reassuring children and families that this is common and that there is no serious medical problem. These are all components of the initial treatment strategy, which was defined as “urotherapy” by the ICCS [4]. In addition, it should be emphasized that most children will spontaneously resolve at a rate of 15% per year, even with no treatment. Regarding constipation, it has been well accepted that this occurs concomitantly with monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis. The ICCS paper reports that many physicians and parents have used different definitions of constipation and, to solve this issue, the authors recommend usage of Rome III criteria for diagnosis. Although, there are no clear data showing that the treatment of constipation helps nocturnal enuresis, in our opinion constipation should be diagnosed and treated when possible [12].
If this first step is unsuccessful and the family is motivated to do more, the clinician should proceed to the second step. This would include a detailed daytime and nighttime urinary diary. This helps to be more certain that the patient has truly monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (with no daytime issues) and also provides more data about bladder capacity and nighttime urine volume.
After the above work-up and confirmation of the diagnosis of monosymptomatic enuresis, more aggressive treatment can be considered. Some families will be happy that there is no serious medical issue and that there is a high spontaneous resolution rate. If, however, families do wish to proceed with treatment, there are two effective alternatives, which have level 1, grade A recommendations in guidelines.