The therapeutic effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation by different pulse widths for overactive bladder in elderly women: a randomized controlled study.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: There have been a number of controversies about which treatment of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is more beneficial for overactive bladder (OAB). An attempt to investigate the therapeutic effect of NMES with different pulse widths for OAB in elderly women has been made in this study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The postmenopausal elderly women without pelvic organ prolapse (POP) who received transvaginal NMES in Beijing Hospital from November 2020 to December 2020 were randomly divided into two groups (Group A and Group B). Patients from Group A accepted the treatment with NMES by pulse width of 300 µs and patients from Group B accepted the treatment with NMES by pulse width of 200 µs. Myoelectric potential of Type I and Type II muscle fibers at pelvic floor and overactive bladder symptom score (OABSS) were valued. RESULTS: There were 46 patients eligible for the study and randomly divided into Group A and Group B, 23 patients for each group. OABSS were significantly reduced in both groups after the treatment of NEMS. And OABSS in Group A (after treated by pulse width of 300 µs) were significantly decreased greater than those in Group B (after treated with pulse width of 200 µs). Both Group A and Group B had no significant difference in the mean myoelectric potential at pre-resting state when compared before and after the treatment of NEMS. Myoelectric potential of Type I muscle fiber and the maximum myoelectric potential of Type II muscle fibers were significantly increased after the treatment of NEMS than before the treatment in the two groups, respectively. And myoelectric potential of Type I muscle fiber and the maximum myoelectric potential of Type II muscle fibers in group A (after treated with pulse width of 300 µs) were increased significantly much higher than those in Group B (after treated with pulse width of 200 µs). CONCLUSIONS: Comparing the indicators before and after the treatments of NMES, our study has preliminarily confirmed that NMES has its advantages in treating with OAB. And NMES by pulse width of 300 µs were more effective in improving pelvic floor muscle strength than NMES by pulse width of 200 µs.