title: Reproducibility of electrical sensory testing in lower urinary tract at weekly intervals in healthy volunteers and women with non-neurogenic detrusor overactivity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the reproducibility of a standardized technique of current perception threshold measurements with square wave and sine wave current, with monopolar and bipolar electrodes in a cohort of patients with overactive bladder (OAB) and healthy volunteers.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 6 female nulliparous healthy volunteers and 11 female patients with OAB. Current perception threshold measurements of the bladder were performed using several techniques. The same sequence was used for all 3 measurements performed at weekly intervals to assess the reproducibility. An intraclass correlation coefficient >0.75 was considered as very good reproducibility.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All the different stimulation forms were well tolerated by all participants and all experienced stimulation at 2.5-Hz and 95-Hz square wave current. The results with sine wave current showed less uniform results. The intraclass correlation showed the greatest reproducibility with bipolar stimulation at a current of 95 Hz. Sine wave current at 5 Hz and 250 Hz showed low reproducibility. Bipolar stimulation had significantly lower thresholds than monopolar stimulation (P < .0001). No significant differences were found between the healthy subjects and the patients with OAB for the 4 settings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the healthy volunteers and patients with OAB, the determination of the current perception threshold in the bladder using a standardized method is feasible and well tolerated, with both bipolar and monopolar stimulation. In our study, square wave current showed strong reproducibility at weekly intervals at 2.5 Hz and 95 Hz. However, sinusoid current gave weak reproducibility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Antwerp Faculty of Medicine, Wilrijk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tom David
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Van Meel
authors.forename: Jean Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Wyndaele
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D004566:Electrodes; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology*; D014521:Urethra / Q000294:innervation; D001743:Urinary Bladder / Q000294:innervation / Q000503:physiopathology*; D053201:Urinary Bladder, Overactive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014563:Urodynamics; D055815:Young Adult