Percutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation in patients with chronic pelvic pain: a preliminary study.

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the clinical effect of intermittent percutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) in patients with chronic pelvic pain (CPP).

METHODS: A total of 15 patients (10 women and 5 men, mean age 60.0 years, range 41-78) with CPP were enrolled in an open prospective clinical trial. The patients had 12 weekly outpatient treatment sessions, each lasting 30 min. All patients were evaluated by history, physical as well as urological examination, the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain and urgency, the International Prostate Symptom Score, and a 3-day frequency-volume chart.

RESULTS: After 12 weeks of PTNS, 9 (60%) and 3 patients (30%) had an improvement of >50% and 25-50% in the VAS score for pain, respectively. Six patients (40%) ended up with a mean VAS <3. Mean VAS for pain changed from 8.1 +/- 0.2 at baseline to 4.1 +/- 0.6 after 12 weeks of treatment (p < 0.01). Mean VAS for urgency changed from 4.5 +/- 1.0 at baseline to 2.7 +/- 0.7 after 12 weeks of treatment (p < 0.05). However, there was no statistically significant improvement in the International Prostate Symptom Score. There was no statistically significant difference in the number of voids and bladder volumes either.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that PTNS may improve pain symptoms for over half of the patients with CPP. Long-term follow-up studies are needed to verify these preliminary results.