Hydrodistention plus bladder training versus hydrodistention for the treatment of interstitial cystitis

Objective: To assess the efficacy of hydrodistention (HD) followed by bladder training (BT) versus HD alone in patients with interstitial cystitis (IC). Methods: A total of 70 patients with IC were included and randomly assigned to two groups: one treated with HD (HD group) and the other treated with HD plus BT (HD plus BT group). Each patient was followed up using a weekly diary for 8 weeks after HD and monthly thereafter for 6 months after HD. Evaluation parameters included age, duration of IC in years, how many doctors visited before treatment, urgency, bladder pain, daytime voided volume per void, nocturnal volume per void, daytime voids per day, and nocturia per day. Results: Age, duration of IC in years, doctors visited before treatment, and voiding profiles of patients before treatments between the two groups did not show statistical significance. However, at 24 weeks after HD, the proportions of urgency, and bladder pain of the HD group versus the HD plus BT group were 43.48% versus 10.71% (p = 0.008), and 34.78% versus 14.29% (p = 0.086), respectively. Concurrently, the mean ± standard deviation of daytime voided volume per void, nocturnal volume per void, daytime voids per day, and nocturia per day of the HD group and HD plus BT group are 212.2 ± 114.2 mL and 300.1 ± 90.2 mL (p = 0.005), 276.8 ± 113.0 mL and 360.0 ± 129.6 mL (p = 0.018), 8.2 ± 3.2 and 6.2 ± 1.4 (p = 0.010), and 2.2 ± 1.2 and 1.5 ± 0.7 (p = 0.019), respectively. Conclusion: HD followed by BT produced a statistically significantly better effect than HD alone in the treatment of patients with IC.