Bladder hyperactivity is a serious pathology with a high clinical incidence. Various drugs have been used to try to inhibit involuntary detrusorial contractions and to increase bladder capacity. The authors describe the properties, action mechanism, clinical use and side effects of the main drugs analysed. Most of the data regarding drug influence on the vesico-urethral apparatus are obtained from “in vitro” or “in-vivo” studies on animals and therefore cannot always be related to the clinical effects that would occur in man. It is still difficult to find an “ideal” drug with high detrusor selectivity, due to both the lack of knowledge on neuro-mediators and the difficulty in identifying receptors and “action sites”.
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