The effect of intravesical hyaluronic acid therapy on urodynamic and clinical outcomes among women with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome.

Objective: Treatment of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) is often delayed because of a lack of objective data during diagnosis. This study was conducted to determine the clinical validity of using urodynamic studies to investigate the effect of intravesical hyaluronic acid (HA) treatment among women with IC/BPS.

Materials And Methods: Thirty patients with IC/BPS undergoing 6-month intravesical instillation of HA were recruited. Pretreatment evaluation involved a urinalysis and urinary culture, urinary cytology, a 3-day voiding diary, and cystoscopy with hydrodistention of the bladder. Urodynamic study was performed before and after HA treatment. Symptomatic changes were assessed using a questionnaire covering lower urinary tract symptoms, the O'Leary-Sant symptom index and problem indexes (ICSI and ICPI), and the visual analog scale for pain and urgency. Patient demographics, urinary symptoms, ICSI/ICPI scores, pain and urgency scores, and urodynamic results before and after HA treatment were compared.

Results: Urinary frequency, nocturia, urgency, pelvic pain, bladder capacity, ICSI, and ICPI were significantly improved after HA treatment. Comparing urodynamic parameters, the volumes at first desire to void (FDV) and maximum cystometric capacity were significantly increased after HA treatment. Before HA treatment, a negative correlation existed between the ICSI and ICPI and urodynamic parameters, including maximum flow rate and bladder capacity, but there were no significant correlations after treatment. Before HA treatment, a negative correlation was discovered between nocturia and FDV. However, after HA treatment, there were no significant correlations between urinary symptoms and urodynamic parameters.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that the improvement of urinary symptoms of IC/BPS after HA treatment is associated with increased FDV and maximum cystometric capacity. The value of FDV and the frequency of nocturia after treatment may become useful objective indicators for prognosis of IC/BPS.