Long-term follow-up of intravesical abobotulinumtoxinA (Dysport®) injections in women with idiopathic detrusor overactivity

Objective

Only a few numbers of studies have been published on the use of abobotulinumtoxinA (Dysport®) in idiopathic detrusor overactivity (IDO). This study reported the long-term follow-up of women with IDO who were treated with intravesical Dysport® injections.

Methods

Two hundred and thirty-six patients with IDO who had failed first-line conservative and antimuscarinic therapy received 500-900 units of Dysport® between April 2014 and July 2015. All patients were followed up for 5 years after their initial injection and interviewed on the phone.

Results

A total of 236 women with IDO aged from 18 years to 84 years (mean±standard deviation: 49.6±15.9 years) were included in our study. The median follow-up time for patients was 36.5 (range: 10-70) months, and the median recovery time after injection was 18.5 (range: 0-70) months. A total of 83 (35.2%) patients stated that they had subjective improvement of their symptoms whereas 84 (35.6%) patients did not report any improvement in symptoms. The initial International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Overactive Bladder mean score was 6.9 (standard deviation 3.4). There was a positive association between the median recovery time and the components of the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Overactive Bladder questionnaire.

Conclusion

In a sub-population of overactive bladder patients with IDO who have failed first-line therapy, a single intravesical Dysport® injection can resolve patient symptoms completely or reduce the symptoms to an acceptable level that can be controlled with antimuscarinics or re-injection on demands.

Differences in the Urinary Microbiome of Patients with Overactive Bladder Syndrome with and without Detrusor Overactivity on Urodynamic Measurements

INTRODUCTION

It has been hypothesized that the urinary microbiome might play an important role in OAB. Studies have been conducted on the association between OAB symptoms and the microbiome, although a possible causality still has to be determined.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

In this study, 12 female patients, ≥18 years of age, with 'OAB DO+' and 9 female patients with 'OAB DO-' were included. Patients were excluded if they met one of the following exclusion criteria: bladder tumors and previous bladder operations; sacral neuromodulation; injection of Botox in the bladder; and TOT or TVT operations. Urine samples were collected and stored with patient informed consent and with the approval of the Hospital Ethical Review Board (Arnhem-Nijmegen). All OAB patients underwent urodynamics before collecting urine samples, and the diagnosis of detrusor overactivity was confirmed by two individual urologists. In addition, samples from 12 healthy controls who did not undergo urodynamic evaluation were analyzed. The 16S rRNA V1-V2 region amplification and gel electrophoresis were used to determine the microbiota.

RESULTS

12 of the OAB patients had DO shown on their urodynamic studies; the remaining 9 patients had a normoactive detrusor on their urodynamic measurements. Overall, there were no substantial differences among the demographic characteristics of the subjects. The samples were classified as the following: 180 phyla, 180 classes, 179 orders, 178 families, 175 genera, and 138 species. The least commonly observed phyla were Proteobacteria, with an average presence of 10%, followed by Bacteroidetes with 15%, Actinobacteria with 16%, and Firmicutes with 41%. Most of the sequences could be classified according to the genus level for each sample.

DISCUSSION

Significant differences were observed in the urinary microbiome of patients with overactive bladder syndrome who have detrusor overactivity on urodynamics compared to OAB patients without detrusor overactivity and matched controls. OAB patients with detrusor overactivity have a significantly less diverse microbiome and show a higher proportion of Lactobacillus, particularly Lactobacillus iners. The results imply that the urinary microbiome could be involved in the pathogenesis of a specific phenotype of OAB. The urinary microbiome could be a new starting point to study the causes and treatments of OAB.

Botulinum Toxin Therapy for Bladder Pain Syndrome/Interstitial Cystitis

Purpose of Review

Bladder pain syndrome (BPS)/interstitial cystitis (IC) can also be classified as either non-ulcerative or ulcerative, corresponding to the characteristic cystoscopic findings under hydrodistention. Promising therapeutic effects, including decreased bladder pain, have been reported from recent clinical trials using botulinum toxin A (BoNTA) for the treatment of BPS/IC. This review summarizes the current state of the literature on the underlying mechanisms of BoNTA therapy in BPS/IC as well as new forms of its application.

Recent Findings

BoNTA has its effect in the central nervous system in the afferent nerves as well as in the bladder wall. Besides the well-known effects of BoNTA in the nervous system, pain control as well as reduction of urinary urgency in BPS patients could be achieved by mast cell stabilization effecting histamine release as well as modulation of TRPV and PGE2 pathways, among other systems. In addition, new forms of BoNTA administration have focused on intravesical instillation of the drug in order to circumvent bladder wall injections. Hyperthermia, intravesical hydrogel, and lysosomes have been studied as new ways of BoNTA application in BPS/IC patients. From the available studies, bladder instillation of BoNTA in combination with EMDA is the most promising and effective novel approach.

Summary

The most promising novel application methods for BoNTA in patient with BPS/IC are bladder instillations. Future research needs to point out if bladder instillations with BoNTA with some form of bladder absorption enhancement such as hyperthermia or EMDA would be able to replace BoNTA injections in patients with BPS/IC

Lower urinary tract signs and symptoms in patients with COVID-19

Background

The type of pneumonia that is caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has spread across the world in a pandemic. It is not clear if COVID-19 patients have any lower urinary tract signs or symptoms.

Methods

The effect of COVID-19 on lower urinary tract function was studied in a prospective multi-centre, observational study including 238 patients who were admitted with symptoms caused by COVID-19 to the university hospital of Aachen in Germany and Tabriz in Iran.

Results

None of the patients reported to have any lower urinary tract symptoms. SARS-CoV-2 was found in the urine of 19% of the tested patients.

The mortality rate in COVID-19 infected patients with microscopic haematuria together with white blood cells in their urine, was significantly increased from 48 to 61% in the Tabriz cohort (p-value = 0.03) and from 30 to 35% in the Aachen cohort (p-value =0.045). Furthermore, in the group of patients with SARS-CoV-2 urine PCR, the mortality rate rose from 30 to 58%. (p-value =0.039).

Conclusion

Patients admitted with COVID-19 did not report to have any lower urinary tract symptoms, even those patient who had a positive Urine SARS-CoV-2 PCR.

In addition, hematuria, WBC in urine as well as SARS- CoV-2 presence in urine, were found to be strong negative prognostic factors in admitted COVID-19 patients.

Urinary Microbiome and its Correlation with Disorders of the Genitourinary System

PURPOSE

Until recently, the urine of healthy individuals was assumed to be sterile. However, improvement of bacterial detection methods has debunked this assumption. Recent studies have shown that the bladder contains microbiomes, which are not detectable under standard conditions. In this review, we aimed to present an overview of the published literature regarding the relationship between urinary microbiota and functional disorders of the genitourinary system.

METHODS

We searched Medline, PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane library and Scopus to identify RCTs published, with MeSH and free keywords including microbiota, bladder pain syndrome, prostatitis, kidney stone disease, and bladder cancer until September 2020. Randomized controlled trials investigating microbiome and lower urinary tract symptoms were included. Non-randomized trials, cross-over trials and pooled studies were excluded. The articles were critically appraised by two reviewers.

CONCLUSION

The urine microbiome is a newly introduced concept, which has attracted the attention of medical researchers. Since its recent introduction, researchers have conducted many fruitful studies on this phenomenon, changing our perspective toward the role of bacteria in the urinary tract and our perception of the genitourinary system health.

RESULT

A deeper understanding of the urinary microbiome can help us to develop more efficient methods for restoring the microbiota to a healthy composition and providing symptom relief. Modification of the urinary microbiome without antibiotic use can be a possible venue for future research.