Low-frequency bladder vibration for the treatment of urinary tract infections in spinal cord injury patients with neurogenic bladder.

PURPOSE: Evaluate if low-frequency bladder vibration (LFBV) combined with clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) alleviated urinary tract infections (UTIs) in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients with neurogenic bladder (NB).

METHODS

A single-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted. Patients who developed UTIs while rehabilitating from SCI were enrolled continuously between January 2021 and March 2023 and randomly assigned to the control or the intervention group. Patients in the intervention group received LFBV twice daily (5-10 Hz, 5-10 min each time) for 10 days. The primary endpoint was urinary leucocytes, and various other UTI indexes were also tracked. The follow-up lasted four weeks.

RESULTS

The control group (n = 44) and the intervention group (n = 43) were indistinguishable in the basic patient characteristics. Compared to the control group, the intervention group has significantly higher urinary leucocytes on day 2 and significantly lower urinary leucocytes and urinary bacteria on day 10. Four weeks after LFBV, the intervention group had significantly lower urinary leucocytes and post-void residual volume, fewer signs and symptoms of urinary tract infection, as well as significantly higher urine volume. There was no significant change in urinary red blood cells or occult blood due to LFBV.

CONCLUSION

Applying LFBV to SCI/NB patients with UTIs is recommended.