Neuromodulation in the treatment of hyperactive bladder: Literature review

Abstract

Neuromodulation through stimulation of the sacral nerves at the vertebral foramina has recently been introduced into clinical practice. Only a few specialised centres at an international level currently use this therapy as second choice treatment of lower urinary tract dysfunction secondary to detrusorial hyper- or hypoactivity and pelvic pain. The authors report the experience of the more well-established centres, emphasising that the temporary percutaneous stimulation techniques are by now widely standardised and accepted. There is, however, still doubt about how to identify with precision the predictive factors for best application of the method. It is to be hoped that useful answers with regard to this will come from multicentre studies and larger numbers of case histories.