Our 11 year experience with percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) in men and women for the treatment of interstitial cystitis / bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS).

To evaluate the effect of percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) in interstitial cystitis / bladder pain syndrome IC/BPS.

Retrospective chart review was completed for patients with at least 10 weekly treatments of PTNS from January 2010 to October 2021.

PTNS success was defined as conversion to PTNS maintenance therapy following 12 weeks of PTNS induction therapy. Data were analyzed using GraphPad.

Over the 11 year study period, 27 out of 34 patients (mean age 52.9±16.8 years; 25 females, 9 males) completed 12 weeks of PTNS induction therapy, and 48.1% (13/27) successfully converted to PTNS maintenance therapy. Following 12 weeks of PTNS induction therapy, significant improvements were noted in the urgency severity scale (USS range 0-4: 2.9±1.2 before versus 1.1±1.1 after PTNS, p=0.001) and nocturnal urinary frequency (number of voids: 3.3±1.9 before versus 2.2±1.6 after PTNS, p=0.041); and non-significant improvements were noted in daytime void frequency (hours: 1.5±0.7 before versus 2.0±0.9 after PTNS, p=0.090) and the pain domain of the interstitial cystitis symptoms index (ICSI question 4, range 0-4: 2.5±1.4 before versus 1.3±1.8 after PTNS, p=0.082).

Our sample size is among the largest sample of PTNS in IC/BPS from a single center. While PTNS achieved non-significant improvements in pain and daytime void frequency, significant improvements were observed in urinary urgency and nocturia. PTNS appears to be a plausible option in the multi-modal approach to managing IC/BPS.

Urology. 2023 Sep 08 [Epub ahead of print]

Abdelrahman S Abdalla, Sean W Berquist, Ashu Mohammad, Amy D Dobberfuhl

Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Urology, 453 Quarry Road, Center for Academic Medicine, Urology-5656, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. Electronic address: ., Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Urology, 453 Quarry Road, Center for Academic Medicine, Urology-5656, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. Electronic address: ., Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Urology, 453 Quarry Road, Center for Academic Medicine, Urology-5656, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. Electronic address: ., Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Urology, 453 Quarry Road, Center for Academic Medicine, Urology-5656, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. Electronic address: .

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