Pudendal nerve stimulation for overactive bladder. (Experimental Device).

CHICAGO -- An experimental implanted device that delivers pudendal nerve stimulation holds promise for the treatment of refractory overactive bladder, Dr. Jerome L. Buller said at the annual meeting of the American Urogynecologic Society.

Afferent pudendal nerve stimulation has been shown to inhibit the micturition reflex, abolish uninhibited detrusor contractions, and increase bladder capacity; said Dr. Buller, chief of urogynecology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington.

Pudendal stimulation offers several advantages over currently available sacral neuromodulation: The device can be placed under local, rather than general, anesthesia.

It stimulates three sacral segments instead of one, thereby providing increased afferent input, which is believed to be important for neuromodulation.

Also, stimulating a peripheral nerve rather than a nerve root eliminates unpleasant stimulation of nerves in the buttocks and lower extremities, he said.

"Chronic pudendal nerve stimulation may provide a more precise and less invasive form of neuromodulation. ... I believe this thing has a lot of promise," Dr. Buller said of the device, which is known as the BION and is manufactured by Advanced Bionics Corp., Sylmar, Calif.

In a study sponsored by the company, a percutaneous stimulation test-using a stimulating electrode placed through the perineum to the pudendal nerve--was performed in seven women who had ...