Tolterodine causes measurable restoration of urethral sensation in women with urge urinary incontinence.

UNLABELLED: INTRODUCTION & HYPOTHESIS: Determine if treatment of urge incontinence with tolterodine results in changes in bladder and/or urethral sensation using Current Perception Threshold (CPT) testing.

METHODS

Women with >or=1 incontinence episode on 7-day diary were treated with 4 mg of long-acting tolterodine for 2-months. At baseline and 2-months, participants had CPT testing of the urethral and bladder at 3 frequencies 2000, 250, and 5 Hz. Baseline and post-treatment measures were compared using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test.

RESULTS

Seventeen women underwent baseline CPT testing. Four discontinued medication due to side effects and did not have repeated testing. Urethral CPT at 250 Hz was lower after treatment (median 1.3 [Interquartile range .69-2.1] and .75 [.45-1.2], p = .003) and at 5 Hz trended toward a significant decrease (1.1 [1-1.9] and .84 [.32-1.1], p = .06).

CONCLUSIONS

Urethral sensitivity improves after 2-months of tolterodine, suggesting it may restore urethral sensory nerves in addition to known motor effects.