Efficacy of transcutaneous tibial nerve stimulation in the treatment of bladder pain syndrome.

Abstract

This study aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of transcutaneos tibial nerve stimulation (TTNS) in the treatment of bladder pain syndrome (BPS). The data of 16 female patients, diagnosed with BPS in our clinic between 2019 and 2021 and had TTNS twice a week for 12 weeks, were retrospectively analyzed. The mean age of the patients was 46.00 ± 13.11 years, and the mean body mass index was 26.43 ± 3.07 kg/m2. After the treatment, the median day time frequency of the patients decreased from 13.37 (3.69) to 10.25 (4.56) (p < 0.001). Nocturia also decreased after treatment from 4.37 (1.81) to 3.00 (1.94) (p = 0.001). The median voiding volume increased by 26.5 mL (p = 0.001). The median of the patients' visual analog scale scores decreased after treatment (median of visual analog scale score changed from interquartile range 8 [1] to 7 [4]) (p = 0.001). In addition, the median interquartile range interstitial cystitis symptom index scores decreased from 17 (4) to 15 (10) (p = 0.002). In this study it was demonstrated that TTNS is an alternative method that can be successfully applied before invasive methods in the treatment of BPS.