Semiconditional Electrical Stimulation of Pudendal Nerve Afferents Stimulation to Manage Neurogenic Detrusor Overactivity in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of semiconditional electrical stimulation of the pudendal nerve afferents for the neurogenic detrusor overactivity in patients with spinal cord injury. Forty patients (36 males, 4 males) with spinal cord injury who had urinary incontinence and frequency, as well as felt bladder contraction with bladder filling sense or autonomic dysreflexic symptom participated in this study. METHOD: Patients with neurogenic detrusor overactivity were subdivided into complete injury and incomplete injury groups by ASIA classification and subdivided into tetraplegia and paraplegia groups by neurologic level of injury. Bladder function, such as bladder volumes infused to the bladder until the first occurrence of neurogenic detrusor overactivity (V(ini)) and the last contraction suppressed by electrical stimulation (V(max)) was measured by water cystometry (CMG) and compared with the results of each subgroup. RESULTS: Among the 40 subjects, 35 patients showed neurogenic detrusor overactivity in the CMG study. Among these 35 patients, detrusor overactivity was suppressed effectively by pudendal nerve afferent electrical stimulation in 32 patients. The infusion volume until the occurrence of the first reflex contraction (V(ini)) was 99.4±80.3 ml. The volume of saline infused to the bladder until the last contraction suppressed by semiconditional pudendal nerve stimulation (V(max)) was 274.3±93.2 ml, which was significantly greater than V(ini). In patients with good response to the pudendal nerve afferent stimulation, the bladder volume significantly increased by stimulation in all the patients. CONCLUSION: In this study, semiconditional electrical stimulation on the dorsal penile afferent nerve could effectively inhibit neurogenic detrusor overactivity and increase bladder volume in patients with spinal cord injury.