Ambulatory urodynamic monitoring assessment of dorsal genital nerve stimulation for suppression of involuntary detrusor contractions following spinal cord injury: a pilot study

Study design A prospective interventional pilot study using within-individual comparisons. Objectives To assess the effect of dorsal genital nerve stimulation (DGNS) on urine-storage parameters in participants with spinal cord injury (SCI) and neurogenic detrusor overactivity (NDO) during natural bladder filling. Setting The London Spinal Cord Injuries Centre at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore, UK. Methods Ambulatory urodynamic monitoring (AUM) was carried out with and without DGNS, before and after a week of using DGNS at home. DGNS was applied on-demand by four participants with bladder sensation, and both continuously and intermittently by one participant with absent sensation. A Wilcoxon sign-rank test was used to test paired results of changes within an AUM session. Results Urodynamic outcomes were improved using DGNS. Bladder capacity was increased from 244 ± 59 to 346 ± 61 ml ( p = 0.0078), a mean change of 46 ± 25%. Maximum detrusor pressure was decreased from 58 ± 18 to 47 ± 18 cmH 2 O ( p = 0.0156), a change of 17 ± 13%, and average peak detrusor pressure was decreased from 56 ± 16 to 31 ± 128 cmH 2 O ( p = 0.0156), a mean reduction of 50 ± 19%. There was an increase in the number of detrusor contractions from the first involuntary detrusor contraction to a strong desire, urgency or incontinence, from 1.5 ± 1.4 to 4.3 ± 1.7, and an increase in time of 23 ± 22 min. There were no changes in baseline outcomes following home use of DGNS. Conclusions DGNS may be applied on-demand, intermittently or continuously, to increase bladder capacity, decrease storage pressures and provide extra time. Improvements were made in addition to existing antimuscarinic medication regimes.