Bladder debris on ultrasound in the emergency department: correlation with urinalysis

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the correlation between the presence of bladder debris on ultrasound and urinalysis results in the emergency department setting.

Methods

Adult patients presenting to the emergency department with an ultrasound of the bladder and a urinalysis performed within 24 h of the ultrasound were included in this retrospective study. Two radiologists in consensus evaluated for the presence or absence of debris within the bladder. Urinalysis results were recorded including continuous variables (specific gravity and pH) and categorical variables (presence of occult blood, bilirubin, ketones, glucose, protein, urobilinogen, nitrite, leukocyte esterase, white blood cells, and red blood cells). The presence and absence of white and red blood cells were defined as > 5 cells/high-powered field. To control the experimentwise type I error rate at 0.05, a Bonferroni-corrected significance level of 0.0042 was used to determine significant associations.

Results

The presence of bladder debris was associated with the presence of urobilinogen, nitrite, and white blood cells (p = < 0.0001, 0.0005, and 0.0004, respectively).

Conclusions

Bladder debris in the emergency department setting correlates with urinalysis laboratory values suggesting a urinary tract infection. Therefore, the presence of bladder debris should elicit the recommendation of a urinalysis in such a setting.