Urinary nerve growth factor level in children with neurogenic bladder due to myelomeningocele

Abstract

Urinary NGF levels were significantly elevated in patients with myelomeningocele. Future studies are needed to examine further the significance of urinary NGF levels in the pathogenesis of neurogenic bladder in this clinical condition.

Urinary TIMP‐2 and MMP‐2 are significantly associated with poor bladder compliance in adult patients with spina bifida

“…Over the past decade, urinary markers have been suggested as a promising tool to explore lower urinary tract dysfunction in neurogenic and non‐neurogenic populations helping to elucidate their complex pathophysiology but also showing robust diagnostic performances for urodynamic findings in some studies raising the question of their utility in daily practice as a noninvasive, possibly cost‐effective diagnostic tool . However, very little studies had focused on urinary markers in NLUTD of patients with spina bifida . In the present study, we found that urinary TIMP‐2 and MMP‐2 could be associated with poor bladder compliance in patients with spina bifida.…”

“…However, in most series, all neurological conditions were lumped together indistinctly not accounting for the uniqueness of NLUTD in patients with spina bifida having high prevalence of acontractile detrusor, poor bladder compliance, and intrinsic sphincter deficiency . Two studies have focused on patients with spina bifida and have reported promising preliminary results for some urinary markers in this population . Urinary markers may also help to find therapeutic targets for NLUTD in this population in whom usual neurourological treatments such as intradetrusor botulinum toxin has been proven less effective .…”

Nerve growth factor does not seem to be a biomarker for neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction after spinal cord injury

“…Presently, there are only a few investigations concerning the urinary NGF concentration in individuals suffering from NLUTD (Table ) . Increased urinary NGF concentrations have been observed in individuals with neurogenic DO or overactive bladder and children with meningomyelocele . There is a great variability in the reported average NGF concentrations in these individuals (Table ), and different methods have been used to normalize the NGF values with the urinary creatinine concentrations.…”

“…Furthermore, detailed information concerning the type and severity of NLUTD in the investigated individuals is missing in most reports. Only one report provides urodynamic data of the investigated individuals . The reported absolute urinary NGF concentrations range from 7 to 47 pg/ml.…”

“…Over the last decade, evidence of increased nerve growth factor (NGF) concentrations in the urine of patients suffering from overactive bladder, DO, bladder outflow obstruction and bladder pain syndrome has accumulated . Furthermore, increased urinary NGF concentrations have been observed in patients suffering from neurogenic DO . However, concerns regarding the meaning of urinary NGF concentrations have been raised based on the greatly variable results, poor specificity and sensitivity, and the inability to discriminate between the different investigated bladder disorders …”