AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE APPLICATION OF SACRAL NEUROMODULATION IN THE TREATMENT OF INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS / BLADDER PAIN SYNDROME

Introduction: To treat refractory and progressive IC/BPS patients with sacral nerve stimulator, observe the improvement of postoperative symptoms, complications and side effects, and prove the feasibility, effecttiveness and safety of this minimally invasive surgical method for the treatment of IC/BPS. Materials and methods: This study was a prospective cohort study. 40 refractory IC/BPS patients with ineffective conservative treatment were enrolled in the study. According to the wishes of patients, 20 patients were selected as the treatment group, and sacral nerve stimulator was used for sacral nerve regulation therapy. The improvement of symptoms before and after sacral nerve regulation therapy was observed. Twenty patients who did not wish to receive such treatment were enrolled in the control group andcontinued conservative treatment (oral drugs or bladder perfusion drugs) according to their wishes; the changes of related symptoms in the two groups were observed. Results: All the patients were followed up for 1-12 months. In the treatment group, 15 patients were successfully converted from stage I to stage II of SNM treatment. Five patients had poor experience in stage I and underwent stimulator removal one month after the operation. During the follow-up period of stage II, 4 patients had repeated symptoms and adjusted parameters. The relevant data before and at the end of the follow-up were as follows: 24-hour micturition frequency (26.1 +/- 4.3) vs (16.5 +/- 2.4), nocturia frequency (9.2 +/- 1.6) vs (5.5 +/- 0.9), single urine volume (59.6 +/- 13.7) vs (105.2 +/- 26.9), O'Leary-sant score (31.4 +/- 5.8) vs (16.3 +/- 3.0), and VAS score (8.8 +/- 1.3) vs (4.5 +/- 0.7). The QoL score was (4.4 +/- 0.7) vs (2.3 +/- 0.4), all P<0.05. Conclusions: Sacral nerve stimulator is a new minimally invasive treatment for refractory and progressive IC/BPS. It can improve the symptoms of patients to a certain extent, and the incidence of complications and side effects is higher.