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Estamos adoptando medidas reflexivas para garantizar que nuestros espacios sigan siendo seguros para los pacientes, los padres y los cuidadores. Vea las medidas de seguridad, la política de uso de mascarillas y las directrices de visitas.

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Riley Children's Health

Uroflow

Uroflow
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  • Returning Home
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A uroflow study is one of many diagnostic tools used by our pediatric urologists to evaluate your child’s urinary tract. It measures four aspects of urination:

  • How much urine passes
  • The strength or speed of urine flow
  • The pattern of urine flow
  • How well the bladder empties after urination

In a normal urinary tract, urine flows slowly at first, then speeds up the closer the bladder gets to empty and finishes slowly. This pattern is disrupted in children who have a functional or anatomic obstruction in the urinary tract. From this test, we can often learn how your child’s bladder functions and drains. A uroflow study helps diagnose conditions such as voiding dysfunction, urethral strictures or poor bladder emptying among others.

What to Expect

What to Expect

When you arrive for a uroflow study at Riley at IU Health, you will provide some brief medical information about your child. This is an ideal time to ask any remaining questions about the test and express any special needs or mobility issues we should consider.

Your child is escorted to an area where he or she is asked to pee into a special toilet that measures how much and how fast urine flows. Small sensors are placed on their bottom to measure muscle activity during urination. Straining, excess body movement and medications that control the bladder and supporting muscles may alter test results. For this reason, we encourage each child to pee the way he or she normally would to keep things as routine as possible, sitting or standing—whichever feels most comfortable.

Immediately after the test, our nurses place your child on a table and perform an ultrasound of the lower abdomen to see how much urine is left in the bladder. The entire procedure, including the ultrasound, takes about five minutes.

What to Bring

The only thing your child needs to bring to a uroflow study is a full (but not overly full) bladder. You should arrive 15 minutes before your appointment. Please be sure to tell the receptionist when you arrive.

Returning Home

Returning Home

If this is the only test scheduled, you will usually see the doctor after your child’s uroflow study, and your child may go home with no special care instructions. Depending on his or her medical conditions this test may be paired with other tests.

Key Points to Remember

Key Points to Remember

  • Uroflow is a pain-free way to evaluate your child’s urinary tract.
  • Your child should arrive at Riley at IU Health about 15 minutes before the appointed time for a uroflow study.
  • A full bladder is the only preparation needed for the test.
  • Maintaining normal urination during the test, without straining or moving, will give the most accurate results.
  • Your child can return home afterwards with no special care instructions resulting from the test.

Support Services & Resources

Support Services & Resources

Riley at IU Health offers a broad range of supportive services to make life better for families who choose us for their children's care.

Learn More About Riley Support Services

Medline Plus

This U.S. National Library of Medicine website shares information on kidney and urological conditions and treatments.

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

This U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website shares information for parents and caregivers about urological diseases and treatments.

Locations

Locations

Locations

In addition to our primary hospital location at the Academic Health Center in Indianapolis, IN, we have convenient locations to better serve our communities throughout the state.

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Related Conditions & Departments

Related Conditions & Departments

Conditions

  • Kidney Stones
  • Neurogenic Bladder
  • Urinary Tract Infections
  • Vesicoureteral Reflux
  • Voiding Dysfunction

Departments

  • Children's Continence Program
  • Nephrology & Kidney Diseases
  • Transitional Adolescent & Young Adult Urology Program
  • Urology
Riley Children's Health Indiana University School of Medicine
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Find adult services at iuhealth.org

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Designated as Best Children's Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, Ranked in 10 Specialties in 2020-21

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Find adult services at iuhealth.org


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