Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for at-home treatment of nocturnal enuresis in children: Determining optimal pad placement

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Nocturnal enuresis (NE) is a common problem encountered in children that can be recalcitrant to currently available treatment options. Neuromodulation techniques are used to treat various urologic disorders but can be limited by convenience and compliance. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a neuromodulator that can be used at home to treat various conditions. The aim of this study was to determine if TENS can be offered as an effective at-home option that shows durability for NE in children, and to determine which pad placement is the most efficacious. Materials & Methods: A randomized clinical trial including 90 patients aged 5-18 years presenting with monosymptomatic NE was performed. After one month of behavioral therapy, they were treated with TENS therapy after randomization to three groups based on pad placement suprapubic (SP), parasacral (PS), and ankle/posterior tibial (PT). TENS therapy was performed nightly for one month. Voiding diaries recording the number of wet nights, wet scale severity score (0-3), TENS compliance, quality of life (QOL) questionnaires, and any adverse reactions were collected monthly at baseline, during TENS therapy, and after TENS for durability assessment, and statistically analyzed after study completion. Results: No patient was cured of NE, and our study failed to show a statistical difference between the study arms in enuresis frequency during TENS. The only statistically significant improvement was QOL during TENS therapy (2.95 improvement for the PT group versus 1.2 and 1.5 regression for SP and PS groups, respectively, p=0.003). PT TENS therapy also showed improvements for enuresis frequency with 2.7 less episodes/month (versus 4.1 and 8.2 more episodes/month in the SP and PS groups, respectively, p=0.06) and the severity of wetness each night with a 0.17 improvement (versus 0.06 and 0.13 regression in the SP and PS groups, respectively, p=0.06) after TENS therapy was completed, however these did not meet statistical significance. Patients were compliant with using TENS therapy (90% or more in all groups) and there were no adverse events. Discussion: This study found that patients who used the PT pad placement for TENS showed significant improvements in QOL during therapy, however we were unable to show a significant difference in enuresis frequency during TENS between groups. The major limitation of our study was the high number of patients lost to follow-up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: TENS therapy when combined with behavioral techniques can be an easy and safe tool that can be used at home to help treat NE, however, further studies are needed to optimize this type of therapy to show a clinically significant benefit.