The elucidation of the control of micturition has had a remarkable renaissance with the introduction of functional brain imaging. Its introduction in the early 1990s has added a tremendous amount of knowledge to a field that was relegated to information garnered from vertebrate animal studies and patients with specific lesions that could be studied clinically.
To better help us understand the processes involved in childhood incontinence, it is paramount to better understand the role that these micturition centers play in the retention of urine and volitional voiding. We look at the functional imaging studies that explore the role that the prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, the periaqueductal gray, and the pontine micturition center play in processes such as voiding, pain, and bowel problems in this chapter.