[Electroacupuncture stimulation of the pudendal nerve for urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy]

Objective: To evaluate the clinical effect of pudendal nerve electroacupuncture (EAP) on urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy.

Methods: According to the time of hospital visit, we randomly divided 81 patients, aged (68.56 ± 10.47) years, with urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy into a control (n = 40) and an observation group (n = 41), the former treated by transrectal pelvic floor biofeedback combined with electrical stimulation (qd alt, 50 min/time) and the latter by EAP stimulation of the pudendal nerve at the four sacral points (qd alt, 50 min/time), both for 12 weeks. Before, at 4, 8 and 12 weeks of and 6 months after treatment, we obtained their scores on Urinary Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form (ICI-Q-SF ), urinary incontinence quality of life (I-QOL), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and pelvic floor muscle strength (Glazer), and evaluated the effect of 12 weeks of treatment.

Results: Compared with the baseline, the ICI-Q-SF, I-QOL, VAS and Glazer scores were significantly improved in the observation group at 4 , 8 and 12 weeks and during the 6-month follow-up (P < 0.05), even more significantly at 12 weeks and 6 months than at 4 and 8 weeks (P < 0.05), and also in the control group (P < 0.05), even more significantly at 6 months than at 12 weeks (P < 0.05). And all the indicators above were even better improved in the observation than in the control group at any point (P < 0.05). The patients in the observation group showed a markedly higher rate of total effectiveness than the controls at 12 weeks (73.17% ［30/41］ vs 37.50% ［15/40］, P < 0.05).

Conclusions: EAP stimulation of the pudendal nerve is safe and has a good long-term effect in the treatment of urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy, and therefore can be used as a first-choice conservative therapeutic strategy for this condition.