Urodynamic studies and features of anaesthesia during intradetrusor botulinum therapy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (literature review)

The coronavirus pandemic has had a severe impact on the health care system. It is also changing the appointment and conduct of diagnostic procedures, emergency and routine medical care. 

According to the medical guidelines of the European Society of Urology (EAU) for the provision of urological care during the current epidemic situation, various levels of urgency have been proposed for diagnostic and therapeutic measures depending on the type of disease. Urodynamic studies refer to studies with a priority level from P2 (for neurogenic dysfunction of the urinary tract) to P4 (for lower urinary tract dysfunction without the risk of damage to the upper urinary tract). The question arises regarding the safety of these studies, both for patients and medical staff, and possible measures to reduce the risk of infection in a viral pandemic. 

Because of the increased workload of hospitals that have not been redesigned for the fight against coronavirus infection and provide routine and emergency urological care, an even greater need has arisen to find effective and safe methods of local anaesthesia for performing urodynamic studies and intradetrusive injections of botulinum toxin type A under local anesthesia in outpatient and outpatient settings (for example, in a short-term hospital). 

This article presents a literature review on the principles and features of performing urodynamic studies in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and the effectiveness and safety of using various methods of local anaesthesia when performing intradetrusor injections of botulinum toxin with detrusor hyperactivity of a neurogenic and non-neurogenic nature. There were evaluated forms of local anaesthesia such as intradetrusor instillation of lidocaine, electrophoresis, and the use of alternative solutions for urinary bladder irrigation (for example, Ringer’s solution).