VCUG Research
Critically Appraised Studies About VCUG Trauma
Key Takeaways:
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THE VCUG PATIENT PERSEPCTIVE. Drawing submitted by a VCUG patient at age 10.
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UNDERSTANDING VCUG & CSA. Explore known similarities between VCUG and child sexual abuse (CSA).
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DOWNLOAD COMPREHENSIVE PDF. Download our comprehensive PDF of VCUG studies dating back to 1989.
Drawing by a former VCUG patient, age 10
Research About VCUG & Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)
Decades of critically appraised research reflect how invasive the test feels to a child, which is described by many survivors as comparable to sexual assault.
1997
"The study which has come closest to identifying the factors likely to be involved in children’s recall of child sexual abuse is a study [...] involving children who experienced a [VCUG] test...Goodman’s study was unique in its inclusion of direct, painful, and embarrassing genital contact, involving the child’s being genitally penetrated and voiding in the presence of the medical staff. Goodman found that several factors led to greater forgetting of the event: embarrassment, lack of discussion of the procedure with parents, and PTSD symptoms. These are precisely the dynamics likely to operate in a familial abuse situation.”
1998
"Healthcare professionals often perceive invasive procedures such as surgery and needle biopsies as more painful and threatening to the child than 'test[s]' such as VCUGs. However, clinical experience indicates that the VCUG is often perceived by children as more highly distressing than other procedures."
2004
“The VCUG procedure was used as the target event in this study because it is similar in many ways to child sexual abuse...These results suggest a high rate of similarity between the features common to child sexual abuse and those common to the VCUG procedure."
2014
“In the literature, psychological trauma resulting from VCUG was considered the same as from a violent rape, especially in girls."