Questionnaire-guided evaluation of the effectiveness of long-term intravesical 0.2% chondroitin sulfate therapy in interstitial cystitis.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: To investigate the long-term feasibility, safety and effectiveness of intravesical chondroitin sulfate therapy in patients with one or more forms of chronic cystitis. METHODS: The study included 62 female patients with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS) who received intravesical chondroitin sulfate (40 ml/80 mg) therapy between 2014 and 2018. A total of 15 doses of intravesical treatment were applied, once weekly in the first month and once monthly from the second month onward. A 3-day voiding diary, a visual analog scale (VAS), the O'Leary Sant Indexes (ICSI/ICPI), the Pelvic Pain and Urgency/Frequency Symptom (PPUFS) Scale and PPUF Bother scores were recorded and evaluated through prospective comparison before treatment and at the first month and first year. Patients were also assessed using the Global Response Assessment (GRA) at the end of the first month and first year to assess the effectiveness of responses to treatment. RESULTS: In the first month of treatment, 0.2% chondroitin sulfate was ineffective in 22.5% of patients, with mild improvement observed in 40.0% and moderate-good improvement in 37.0%. Evaluation at the end of the first year revealed mild improvement in 21.0% of patients and moderate-good improvement in 79.0%. Statistically significant improvements were observed in all scoring systems at 1 and 12 months compared with pre-treatment values (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Long-term intravesical chondroitin sulfate therapy is a safe and highly successful therapeutic modality that produces significant improvement in patients' quality of life and symptoms in the treatment of IC/PBS.

Evaluation of the urinary podocalyxin and nephrin excretion levels to determine a safe time interval between two sessions of SWL for renal stones: a non randomized exploratory study.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the role of nephrin and podocalyxin in determining the intervals between shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) sessions and how soon the kidney damage was recovered. METHODS: This work was a prospective study that included 30 patients with unilateral kidney stones. The patients' midflow urine samples were collected before SWL and 1 h, 1 day and 1 week after the procedure. Nephrin and podocalyxin levels in the urine samples were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. RESULTS: Among the 30 patients who underwent SWL, 19 were males and 11 were females. The mean age of the SWL group was 34.7 ± 13.2. Both biomarkers did not correlate with age, creatinine values, body mass index, stone side, stone size, energy, frequency and shock numbers. Nephrin and podocalyxin levels were significantly higher at the pre-SWL point (p < 0.05). After the procedure, a significant decrease was observed in both biomarker levels (p < 0.05). At the end of first day, these levels started to increase progressively up to the end of the first week (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Nephrin and podocalyxin may help to determine early period kidney damage associated with SWL. Post-SWL podocalyxin and nephrin values may be used to determine the interval between SWL sessions.