WEDNESDAY, July 28 (HealthDay News) -- Parasacral transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (PTENS) appears effective for treating overactive bladder in children, according to research published in the August issue of The Journal of Urology.

Patricia Lordêlo, of the Bahiana School of Medicine in Salvador, Brazil, and colleagues randomized 25 girls and 12 boys (average age, 7.6 years) to 20 sessions of PTENS or sham treatment three times weekly to evaluate the effectiveness of the former in treating overactive bladder in the pediatric population.

The researchers found that, of the 21 patients in the active group, 61.9 percent of their parents reported cure, versus none of the 16 patients' parents in the sham group; improvement of 100 percent was noted by 12 parents of treatment patients, and no parents of sham patients. Both groups reported significant improvements in the Toronto score, but the test group had a more significant score decrease than the sham group. The test group experienced a statistically significant increase in average and maximum voided volumes and a decrease in daily number of voids.

"This is the first known randomized clinical trial to demonstrate that PTENS is effective in the treatment of children with overactive bladder," the authors write.

Abstract
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)