Animal-assisted therapy in pediatric urodynamics.

Jan Gazdik; Ann Gazdik; Venessa L Kirby; Adam S Howe

doi:10.1016/j.jpurol.2026.106069

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Animal-assisted therapy in pediatric urodynamics.

Jan Gazdik·Ann Gazdik·Venessa L Kirby·Adam S Howe

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Abstract

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND: Urodynamics (UDS) is associated with high levels of patient anxiety/discomfort. Children are often unable to complete UDS, with anesthesia needed to place catheters. Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has been used in a variety of settings, but it has not been studied for UDS before. OBJECTIVE: To determine if AAT can increase success of completing UDS testing without anesthesia in children who were previously unable to perform UDS, along with decreasing distress levels. STUDY DESIGN: We performed a pilot case series of 7 patients (2 female, 5 male) aged 4-16 (mean 9.7) years who previously were unable to complete UDS awake, with AAT prior to and during the UDS procedure. A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to measure patient stress levels before and after AAT. RESULTS: We were able to successfully complete UDS testing with AAT in 6 of the 7 patients (85.7%) without the need for anesthesia. VAS scores decreased from before to after AAT (5.4-3.6, p = 0.020) but with discrepancy when compared to UDS success. DISCUSSION: Our study was the first to describe AAT during UDS. Our preliminary data found AAT to be feasible in UDS. Subjective distress may not correlate with procedural success. AAT in UDS may be more beneficial in certain populations, such as anxious children who previously were unable to tolerate UDS, and not in others such as severe neurodevelopmental conditions. Our study was limited by the small sample size, a single provider, single center, single therapy dog, inclusion of a specific population of patients, and no control group due to this being a pilot study. CONCLUSION: AAT for certain children undergoing UDS testing could help improve the ability to complete the testing without anesthesia. Further studies are needed to fully demonstrate its usefulness in UDS.

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Humans Female Child Male Urodynamics Pilot Projects Child, Preschool Adolescent Animal Assisted Therapy Animals Animal-assisted therapy Anxiety Children Pediatrics Therapy dogs Journal Article

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Jan Gazdik, Ann Gazdik, Venessa L Kirby, Adam S Howe. 2026-06-06. Animal-assisted therapy in pediatric urodynamics.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpurol.2026.106069

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Journal Article resource Adolescent subject Animals subject Anxiety subject Child subject Child, Preschool subject Children subject Female subject Humans subject Journal Article subject Male subject

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