The Bathroom
Botox eases uninary incontinence
This article was reproduced from this webpage:
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/03march/Pages/botox-for-overactive-bladder-incontinence.aspx
Following up from The Bathroom article:
In The News: Can Botox treatment cure bladder weakness?
Botox injections may help women with urinary incontinence, The Daily Telegraph has today reported. The newspaper said that injecting the muscle-freezing toxin into the wall of the bladder can have a long-lasting impact on overactive bladder syndrome, a major cause of incontinence.
The newspaper’s story is based on a UK medical trial that investigated whether the paralysing properties of botox were effective at reducing the symptoms such as frequently using the toilet, feeling an urgent need to urinate, and leakage in patients with overactive bladder syndrome.
The trial featured 240 women who had not responded to medical treatments for overactive balder syndrome. The researchers found that women who received the botox injection experienced these symptoms significantly less frequently than women who received a dummy injection of saltwater. However, women given botox were more likely to get urinary tract infections.
The results of the study indicate that botox may be effective in treating a common and upsetting health condition. However, if it does get adopted into use in this way there are several other treatment options (including lifestyle measures, bladder training exercises and medication that would be considered first). Botox may be considered as an option only if these treatments fail, and the benefits would have to be considered in relation to its potential harms.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Leicester and was funded by the Moulton Charitable Trust and the women’s health charity Wellbeing of Women.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed medical journal European Urology.
The Telegraph covered this study appropriately, covering the study size and design, as well as the treatment benefits and harms.