Lower urinary tract symptoms and urinary incontinence.

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) is a global term which includes symptoms caused by failure to store urine and empty the bladder, and post-micturition symptoms. The term LUTS was initially coined in 1994. Before that urinary symptoms were frequently attributed to a particular organ such as the prostate [1]. Since then organocentric terms such as ‘prostatism’ have become increasingly obsolete and the International Continence Society (ICS) in 2002 formally classified LUTS into storage, voiding and post-micturition symptoms [2]. This approach acknowledges the long held notion that “the bladder is an unreliable witness” [3] and relies instead upon a more descriptive approach, with no underlying aetiology or specific organ assumed to be responsible for the symptoms experienced.