Efficiency of Posterior Tibial Nerve Stimulation in Category IIIB Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain: A Sham-Controlled Comparative Study

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of percutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) for treatment of the patients with category IIIB chronic non-bacterial prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Methods: A total of 89 patients with therapy-resistant pelvic pain were randomized to receive either nerve stimulation (n = 45) or sham treatment (n = 44). The National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index and visual analogue scale were used to assess treatment success after 12 weeks of intervention. Objective success was defined as a minimum 50% decrease in the mean scores. A decrease of over 25% to below 50% was considered to be a partial response. Results: An objective response was observed with the pain and symptom scores after 12 weeks of PTNS in 18 (40%) and 30 (66.6%) of the patients, whereas a partial response was observed in 27 (60%) and 15 (33.3%) of the patients, respectively. Mean symptom scores and visual analogue scale scores for pain and urgency were significantly changed from 23.6 +/- 6.3 at baseline to 10.2 +/- 3.6, 7.6 +/- 0.8 at baseline to 4.3 +/- 0.6, 5.7 +/- 0.8 at baseline to 3.4 +/- 0.7, respectively. Scores for the symptoms, urgency and pain were not changed with sham treatment. Conclusions: These results have demonstrated that percutaneous PTNS may relieve pain in the patients with category IIIB chronic non-bacterial prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel