Abstract
Simple SummaryOveractive bladder (OAB) is a common urologic condition with urinary frequency, urinary urgency, nocturia, and urgency incontinence, which can get in the way of a patient’s social life, exercise, work, and sleep. Exploring a promising option for OAB patients is very important, especially one with less side effects or invasive alternations. This study uses low intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy (LiESWT) to investigate the therapeutic effect and duration on OAB symptoms.Background: The present study attempted to investigate the therapeutic effect and duration of low intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy (LiESWT) on overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms, including social activity and the quality of life (QoL). Methods: In this prospective, randomized, single-blinded clinical trial, 65 participants with OAB symptom were randomly divided into receive LiESWT (0.25 mJ/mm2, 3000 pulses, 3 pulses/second) once a week for 8 weeks, or an identical sham LiESWT treatment without the energy transmission. We analyzed the difference in overactive bladder symptom score (OABSS) and 3-day urinary diary as the primary end. The secondary endpoint consisted of the change in uroflowmetry, post-voided residual (PVR) urine, and validated standardized questionnaires at the baseline (W0), 4-week (W4) and 8-week (W8) of LiESWT, and 1-month (F1), 3-month (F3) and 6-month (F6) follow-up after LiESWT. Results: 8-week LiESWT could significantly decrease urinary frequency, nocturia, urgency, and PVR volume, but meaningfully increase functional bladder capacity, average voided volume and maximal flow rate (Qmax) as compared with the W0 in the LiESWT group. In addition, the scores calculated from questionnaires were meaningfully reduced at W4, W8, F1, F3, and F6 in the LiESWT group. Conclusions: Our results revealed that the therapeutic efficacy of LiESWT could improve voided volume and ameliorate OAB symptoms, such as urgency, frequency, nocturia, and urinary incontinence, and lasted up to 6 month of follow-up. Moreover, LiESWT treatment brought statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in social activity and QoL of patients. These findings suggested that LiESWT could serve as an alternative non-invasive therapy for OAB patients.
Highlights
Four characteristically symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB) bothered patients a lot and severely destroyed the quality of life, including urinary frequency, urinary urgency, nocturia, and urgency incontinence, were found in approximately 20.9% of females, and is increased to 34.5% in those who were over 65 year old in Asian countries [1,2,3]
low intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy (LiESWT) meaningfully decreased daytime frequency (p < 0.01), nocturia (p < 0.05) and urgency symptoms (p < 0.05) at W8, F1, F3, and F6, as compared with the W0 (Figure 2c). These findings revealed that LiESWT improved the OAB symptoms by decreasing daytime frequency as early as 4 weeks and this effect was more prominent after 8 weeks treatment on daytime frequency, nocturia, and urgency
We investigate the efficacy of LiWEST on the social activity and the quality of life (QoL) based on a series of well-known questionnaires, including overactive bladder symptom score (OABSS), Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF), Urogenital Distress Inventory-6 (UDI-6), and Impact Questionnaire-7 (IIQ-7) (Figure 3)
Summary
Four characteristically symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB) bothered patients a lot and severely destroyed the quality of life, including urinary frequency, urinary urgency, nocturia, and urgency incontinence, were found in approximately 20.9% of females, and is increased to 34.5% in those who were over 65 year old in Asian countries [1,2,3]. Results: 8-week LiESWT could significantly decrease urinary frequency, nocturia, urgency, and PVR volume, but meaningfully increase functional bladder capacity, average voided volume and maximal flow rate (Qmax) as compared with the W0 in the LiESWT group. Conclusions: Our results revealed that the therapeutic efficacy of LiESWT could improve voided volume and ameliorate OAB symptoms, such as urgency, frequency, nocturia, and urinary incontinence, and lasted up to 6 month of follow-up.
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