Purpose: To evaluate in a prospective study the impact of the "three-drug therapy" (antimuscarinic, alpha-blocker and tricyclic antidepressants) on the treatment of refractory detrusor overactivity (DO).
Methods: Data from 27 consented patients with refractory DO were available for study. They were asked to complete a daily urinary chart and underwent urodynamic evaluation (UD) before and 60 days after treatment. Response to treatment was considered the presence of one or less involuntary detrusor contractions (IDC) on post-treatment UD. Statistical analysis was performed with Fisher and Mann-Whitney tests, besides Spearman's correlation. P values <0.05 were considered significant.
Results: The mean follow-up was 15 months. The comparison of the daily urinary chart before and after treatment showed significant increase on bladder capacity and decreases on urgency, urge-incontinence and frequency. Objective data from UD showed that the mean maximum bladder capacity (MBC) ranged from 200 to 300 mL (P < 0.001) with treatment. The same trend was observed with the other UD variables. When compared to baseline, the questionnaire OAB-v8 showed significant improvement (P < 0.01). Main side effects comprised dry mouth and constipation (40%), with average scores of 5.16 and 3.08, respectively (visual scale from 0 to 10).
Conclusions: Triple therapy may be an effective, easily employed and well-tolerated option to refractory DO treatment. More studies are necessary to achieve more consistent data on the matter.