Low-intensity shockwave therapy (LiST) has emerged as an effective treatment for pain in patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS), and it has been postulated that LiST may also be effective in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).
To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental and clinical studies exploring the effect of LiST on LUTS in an attempt to provide clinical implications for future research.
We systematically searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Scopus databases from inception to March 2021 for relevant studies. We provided a qualitative synthesis regarding the role of LiST in LUTS and performed a single-arm, random-effect meta-analysis to assess the absolute effect of LiST on LUTS only in patients with CP/CPPS (PROSPERO: CRD42021238281).
We included 23 studies (11 experimental studies, seven nonrandomized controlled trials [non-RCTs], and five RCTs) in the systematic review and seven in the meta-analysis. All experimental studies were performed on rats with LUTS, and the clinical studies recruited a total of 539 participants. In patients with CP/CPPS, the absolute effect of LiST on maximum flow rate and postvoid residual was clinically insignificant. However, the available studies suggest that LiST is effective for the management of pain in patients with either CP/CPPS or interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome. Additionally, LiST after intravesical instillation of botulinum neurotoxin type A may enhance its absorption and substitute botulinum neurotoxin type A injections in patients with overactive bladder. Furthermore, the available evidence is inconclusive about the role of LiST in patients with benign prostatic obstruction, stress urinary incontinence, or underactive bladder/detrusor hypoactivity.
LiST may be effective for some disorders causing LUTS. Still, further studies on the matter are necessary, since the available evidence is scarce.
Low-intensity shockwave therapy represents a safe, easily applied, indolent, and repeatable on an outpatient basis treatment modality that may improve lower urinary tract symptoms.
European urology focus. 2021 May 10 [Epub ahead of print]
Ioannis Sokolakis, Nikolaos Pyrgidis, Andreas Neisius, Michael Gierth, Thomas Knoll, Jens Rassweiler, Georgios Hatzichristodoulou, German Society for Shock Wave Lithotripsy
Department of Urology, Martha-Maria Hospital Nuremberg, Nuremberg, Germany., Department of Urology, Barmherzige Brüder Hospital Trier, Trier, Germany., Department of Urology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany., Department of Urology, Klinikverbund Südwest, Sindelfingen Hospital, Sindelfingen, Germany., Department of Urology, SLK Hospital Heilbronn, Heilbronn, Germany., Department of Urology, Martha-Maria Hospital Nuremberg, Nuremberg, Germany. Electronic address: .