Reagan to Have Tests of Urinary Tract Today

President Reagan enters Bethesda Naval Hospital today for a series of urinary tract tests that will follow up on previous examinations and are unrelated to his cancer surgery of last year, the White House announced Friday.

Reagan is expected to return to the White House in the afternoon. While at the hospital, he will participate in a voluntary drug testing program for top-ranking presidential aides, which is scheduled to begin Monday.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said he did not know whether the urological examination was prompted by any symptoms Reagan might have experienced.

A statement released by the White House said Reagan’s physicians had recommended that the “urological evaluation” be conducted at a convenient time as part of the President’s overall health care. “Because of the heavy schedule anticipated for the fall, the President chose this Saturday,” the statement said.

After Radio Address

The President will travel by helicopter to the hospital after he delivers his weekly radio address from the Oval Office.

Today’s examination is expected to be similar to one conducted in April, 1982, in response to complaints by Reagan of “slight discomfort” in the urinary tract. During that examination, doctors found an inflammation, which cleared up in a few days with antibiotics, Speakes said.

Otherwise, the results of those 2 1/2 hours of tests were normal. Just as he did then, Reagan today will undergo an intravenous urogram and a bladder cystoscopic examination. Both tests are done with local anesthetic.

At the same time, the President will be tested for drugs--two days ahead of his White House staff. Physicians recommended that Reagan take the test today because medication administered in connection with his urological examination could have caused an inaccurate result if he had waited until Monday.

Speakes refused to dismiss the medical examination as “routine,” saying: “This has been a history with the President, so it’s something they keep an eye on and frequently test for.”

In 1967, when Reagan was governor of California, he had surgery to remove calcium deposits in the urinary tract that could have led to painful kidney stones. A medical statement issued at the time said the surgery also involved a trans-urethral prostatic resection, a procedure designed to remove enlarged prostate tissue that can interfere with urination.

On Friday, reporters were first alerted to the possibility of a weekend medical procedure when White House spokesman Peter Roussel announced that the Reagans would not be going to Camp David for their customary weekend retreat.

Speculation and Rumors

Under persistent questioning, Roussel refused to rule out medical reasons, fueling a spate of news reports about the 75-year-old President’s health and unsettling the stock market.

Shortly after 1 p.m., Speakes appeared in the pressroom to announce the hospital visit and to answer questions. When asked why the White House had not made the announcement earlier and avoided unnecessary speculation and rumors, Speakes said Roussel had been purposely evasive “because I wanted to do it (make the announcement) personally.”

Speakes had been in his home state of Mississippi delivering a commencement address. He returned to the White House about noon to discover an uproar in the pressroom over the handling of this latest health issue.

Reporters speculated that the blackout was ordered by First Lady Nancy Reagan, who regards detailed news reports about her husband’s health problems as an invasion of privacy.

“The Reagans are very specific about how they want their medical announcements handled,” Speakes said.

Mrs. Reagan expressed great unhappiness over the extraordinary attention given the President’s intestinal surgery a year ago. At that time, a section of Reagan’s colon was removed after the discovery of two polyps.