Assessment of overactive bladder symptoms among women with successful pessary placement

Introduction and hypothesis

The causal association between pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms is supported by several theories. The aim of this study is to assess any changes in OAB symptoms among women with POP and OAB after successful pessary placement.

Methods

During the study period, all women with symptomatic POP stage II or greater and OAB symptoms were offered the solution of either a ring or a Gellhorn pessary. All patients were asked to complete a 3-day micturition/incontinence diary. Objective evaluation endpoints at baseline and at 6 weeks included: change in the mean number of micturitions/24 h, change in the mean volume voided per micturition/24 h, and change in the number of urinary incontinence episodes. Subjective evaluation of the urgency, frequency, and nocturia symptoms was carried out using the score change of the questions 3, 5, and 2 of the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire for Evaluating Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (ICIQ-FLUTS) respectively.

Results

Seventy-four women were included in the study. A statistically significant decrease (?28.3%; p < 0.001) of the mean number of micturitions/24 h with a significant increase (37%; p < 0.001) in the mean voided volume per micturition/24 h was observed. The total urine volume/24 h remained unchanged. The number of urinary incontinence episodes was significantly increased 6 weeks after pessary placement (p < 0.001). De novo stress urinary incontinence (SUI) was reported by 16.7% of the initially stress continent women.

Conclusions

Women with coexisting POP and OAB symptoms may experience a significant improvement in micturition frequency and in urgency and frequency symptoms after successful pessary fitting.

     

A comparison of extended-release oxybutynin and tolterodine for treatment of overactive bladder in women

Women with urge or mixed incontinence were randomized to a daily dose of 10 mg extended-release oxybutynin chloride (qd) or tolterodine tartrate 4 mg (2 mg bid) for 12 weeks. Subjects completed 7-day voiding diaries at baseline and at 12 weeks. A total of 315 women were treated. At the end of the study, extended-release oxybutynin chloride was more effective than twice-daily tolterodine tartrate as measured by urge and total incontinence episodes (p=0.038, p=0.030, respectively). Overall, the reduction in micturition frequency between groups was not significantly different. In women aged 64 years and younger (comprising 63% of the population) extended-release oxybutynin was more effective than tolterodine for urge (p=0.005) and total incontinence (p=0.005), and for micturition frequency (0.024). Adverse events were infrequent, mostly mild, and similar between treatment groups. We concluded that daily extended-release oxybutynin chloride (10 mg) was more effective than tolterodine tartrate (2 mg bid) in treating urge and total incontinence. The incidences of dry mouth, CNS events, and other adverse events were similar for both drugs.     

A review of adherence to drug therapy in patients with overactive bladder

Drug therapy for overactive bladder (OAB) is associated with improvements in symptoms and quality of life, but the short- and long-term adherence and persistence is suboptimal. In this review we outline methods of measuring, and factors affecting, adherence to pharmacotherapy in patients with OAB. Clinical practice suggests that adherence rates reported in clinical trials are much greater than in real practice. Factors affecting adherence include psychological and social variables that might alter patients' perception of the benefits of taking medication, and the effect of comorbidity and polypharmacy. Whilst there is some evidence that lack of efficacy and side-effects are contributory, these additional factors are also important.     

The evolution of transdermal therapy for overactive bladder

Oxybutynin chloride has been effectively used for treating overactive bladder syndrome for more than three decades. The evolution of different delivery systems led first to intravesical administration, anal suppositories, and then to the commercial development of an extended-release oral formulation of oxybutynin chloride to improve its tolerability while maintaining efficacy. These modes of delivery were associated with decreased antimuscarinic side effects and N-desethyloxybutynin serum levels by avoiding first-pass metabolism in the upper gut and liver. The development of transdermal delivery has carried this evolution even further, with serum levels of desethyloxybutynin ≤ oxybutynin and dry mouth rates of 7%, with little constipation. The new development of a transdermal oxybutynin gel has decreased these application site reactions to low levels while maintaining good efficacy.     

The role of acupuncture in managing overactive bladder; a review of the literature

Introduction and hypothesis

Overactive bladder (OAB) affects a considerable proportion of men and women in the United States and is associated with significant costs and quality of life (QoL) reduction. While medication remains a mainstay of treatment, there is increasing interest in the use of alternative medicine in the form of acupuncture. We reviewed the literature on the role of acupuncture in managing OAB.

Methods

A narrative review was compiled after searching electronic databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, and EMBASE) for clinical studies involving acupuncture in treating OAB. Databases were searched from the time of inception through September 2015 by a clinician for articles reporting the results related to the use of acupuncture in OAB. Key search terms were acupuncture, overactive bladder, bladder instability, urgency, urinary incontinence. Articles in English or translated into English were included.

Results

Initial animal studies suggest several biochemical mechanisms of action underlying the effect of acupuncture on OAB suppression. The experience in humans includes two case series and six comparative trials. All studies demonstrated subjective improvement in OAB symptoms, and some reported objective improvement in urodynamic studies. Notably, some comparative trials showed the benefit of acupuncture to be comparable with antimuscarinic treatment.

Conclusion

Despite their limitations, existing studies serve as a promising foundation for suggesting a role for acupuncture as an alternative therapy for OAB. Further well-designed studies are required to investigate optimal technique and their outcomes.

     

Effects of pelvic organ prolapse ring pessary therapy on intravaginal microbial flora

Introduction and hypothesis

The purpose of this paper is to report our evaluation of changes in intravaginal microbial flora after ring pessary therapy for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) using conventional and our clone library method.

Methods

Thirteen patients with POP who were fitted with a ring pessary participated in this longitudinal study that incorporates data from before and 1 month after beginning ring pessary therapy. Changes in intravaginal microbial flora were evaluated by conventional methods, i.e., vaginal pH, lactobacillary grade (LAC grade), Nugent score, and culture-based bacterial detection methods. In addition, we performed our clone library method using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequencing of vaginal fluid.

Results

Conventional methods revealed that most patients had abnormal intravaginal microbial flora. Mean numbers of detected bacterial species by the culture-based and our clone library method were 3.1 (1–6) and 11.8 (1–25), respectively. Our clone library method showed that Lactobacillus spp. increased in four and decreased in two cases after ring pessary therapy but reappeared after therapy in two cases; no Lactobacillus spp. were detected in five cases.

Conclusions

Our study showed that ring pessary therapy did not always disturb intravaginal microbial flora, especially for patients with Lactobacillus spp. prior to ring pessary insertion. Anaerobic circumstances in the vagina after therapy seem to have induced the growth of anaerobic bacteria.

     

Emerging pharmacological targets in overactive bladder therapy: experimental and clinical evidences

Antimuscarinics are the mainstay of the medical therapy for overactive bladder, but their side effects and often modest success have prompted studies on novel pharmacological approaches. In this paper, we give a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed papers on the subject. Effective nonantimuscarinic treatments are currently scarce, but many new promising compounds are emerging, which target key molecular pathways involved in micturition control. The most promising potential therapeutic targets include: nervous GABAergic, glycinergic, dopaminergic, and serotonergic systems; b-adrenoceptors and cAMP metabolism; nonadrenergic–noncholinergic mechanisms such as purinergic and neuropeptidergic systems; vanilloid receptors; bladder afferent nerves; nonneuronal bladder signaling systems including urothelium and interstitial cells; prostanoids; Rho-kinase; and different subtypes of potassium and calcium channels. Despite the enormous amount of new biologic insight, very few drugs with mechanism of action other than antimuscarinics have passed as yet the proof-of-concept stage. Further preclinical and clinical studies are urgently needed in this rapidly moving field.     

托特罗定联合双氯芬酸钠治疗女性膀胱过度活动症

目的 探讨女性膀胱过度活动症有效治疗方法.方法 选择诊断为女性膀胱过度活动症患者57例.随机分为试验组和对照组,试验组20例给予口服托特罗定及双氯芬酸钠;对照I组19例,单纯给予托特罗定;对照Ⅱ组18例,单纯给予双氯芬酸钠.用药时间为4周.以日平均排尿次数、日平均单次尿量、日单次最大尿量为观察指标.观察试验组与对照组用药前后各观察指标变化,并进行统计学分析.结果 试验组与二对照组治疗后各观察指标统计学比较差异有临床意义(P<0.05).结论 托特罗定联合双氯芬酸钠能够更好地改善女性膀胱过度活动症患者临床症状,提高生活质量,疗效确切,方法简便,可推广应用.     

The challenge of overactive bladder therapy: alternative to antimuscarinic agents

Contemporary, the management of overactive bladder (OAB), a medical condition characterized by urgency, with or without urge urinary incontinence, frequency and nocturia, in absence of genitourinary pathologies or metabolic factors that could explain these symptoms, is complex, and a wide range of conservative treatments has been offered, including bladder training, biofeedback, behavioral changes, oral or intravesical anticholinergic agents, S3 sacral neuromodulation and peripheral electrical stimulation. Clinical efficacy of these treatments remains an open issue and several experimental and clinical studies were carried out in the last years improving the results of medical treatment. Here we review the pathophysiology of micturition reflex, the current therapies for OAB and the rationale for alternative treatments. Furthermore we critically address the potential use of medications targeting the central nervous system (CNS) and the primary sensory nerves of the bladder wall, we review the use of agonists of nociceptin/orphanin protein (NOP) receptor and finally we report the results obtained by intradetrusor injection of botulinum toxin.