[The treatment of nocturnal enuresis. A comparative study between desmopressin and acupuncture used alone or in combination].

During the period from March to September 1989, 40 children suffering from primary nocturnal enuresis, aged between 5 and 14 years, were included in a study to assess the comparative therapeutical efficacy of DDAVP and acupuncture. Children were divided into four groups of 10: group A was treated with DDAVP, group B was treated with acupuncture, group C was treated with DDAVP and acupuncture and group D was treated with placebo (control). The trial design included 3 periods: observation (2 weeks), treatment (8 weeks) and follow-up (4 weeks). Nineteen children completed the study. The efficacy of treatment, which was expressed as a percentage of dry nights, was high in both the DDAVP and acupuncture groups, when used separately. The combined treatment of DDAVP and acupuncture appeared to be the most efficacious both in terms of the percentage of dry nights at the end of treatment and in relation to the stability of results, even after the end of the study. The paper gives a detailed analysis of correlations between type of treatment and urinary osmolarity.