Project Overview

Overactive bladder (OAB) is an incurable urinary disorder that affects up to 18% of Canadian adults. Successful treatment can improve quality of life by alleviating anxiety, social withdrawal, depression, and preventing falls while urgently seeking the bathroom. Falls are the largest cause of injuries in adults over age 65, among which OAB is highly prevalent (30%). Current treatment options (and limitations) include: (a) pharmaceuticals (poor patient compliance/side effects); (b) spinal nerve stimulation (expensive and invasive implantable device); and (c) tibial nerve stimulation therapy provided near the ankle (which requires ongoing clinic-based treatment). The clinical efficacy and long-term compliance of these therapies are notably limited. Additionally there can be significant side-effects. We recently showed clinically that our novel saphenous nerve (SAFN) stimulation therapy effectively improved OAB symptoms, without any reported side-effects. We also showed that this could be done using transcutaneous stimulation via stimulation pads applied to the skin rather than requiring a percutaneous needle procedure in the clinic. The goal of this renewal application is to investigate the time course and dose-related treatment profile of our novel OAB therapy in newly-recruited patients. The successful completion of this project will provide an informed approach to treatment titration (i.e. optimizing stimulation regimen) of individual patients using a therapy that can be provided at the patient’s home.