MUSC Medical Links Charleston Links Archives Medical Educator Speakers Bureau Seminars and Events Research Studies Research Grants Catalyst PDF File Community Happenings Campus News

Return to Main Menu

Urinary research offers hope to men

by Tim Gehret
Public Relations
Research conducted at MUSC shows remarkable success in treatment of men with overactive bladder and lower urinary tract symptoms. The results of the 12-week study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Nov. 15.
 
Males with lower urinary tract symptoms and overactive bladder experience symptom relief with a novel combination of medications, according to the  study.
 
The American Medical Association estimates that overactive bladder (OAB), a type of lower urinary tract symptom, affects 30 million to 40 million Americans including an estimated 10 million adult men 40 years or older. People with OAB may experience a sudden intense urge to urinate more than eight times a day. In many cases, patients will experience excessive urinary urges throughout the night. OAB adversely affects a person’s daily routines and quality of life. In fact, persons with OAB experience a lower quality of life than those with certain forms of diabetes. Male patients with lower urinary tract symptoms are often treated with drugs that target the prostate and/or the bladder.
 
Eric Rovner, M.D., associate professor of urology, along with colleagues at 95 urology clinics across the country, performed a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial on more than 850 men 40 years and older. In the study, funded by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, patients were assigned to receive either a placebo, Tamsulosin (Flomax), Tolterodine ER (Detrol), or both Tamsulosin and Tolterodine ER for 12 weeks. The results show 80 percent of the men who received the combination of Tolterodine ER and Tamsulosin reported treatment benefits by the 12th week compared to the 62 percent who took the placebo, 71 percent who took only Tamulosin, or 65 percent who took only Tolterodine ER.
 
“This study enrolled a unique patient population which had not been extensively studied. Most trials for overactive bladder medications included predominantly women,” Rovner said. “There was a feeling among many urologists that this class of medications, antimuscarinics, would result in unacceptably high rates of urinary retention in men due to undiagnosed prostatic obstruction. Therefore, men with lower urinary tract symptoms, of which overactive bladder is a component, have been traditionally treated primarily with alpha blockers and five alpha reductase inhibitors.”
 
Rovner said that, contrary to those existing fears, the study found that this class of medication was safe, and the combination of antimuscarinics and alpha blockers afforded the best symptom relief.
 
“This may signal a shift in the paradigm of the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms in men,” Rovner said.

   

Friday, Nov. 24, 2006
Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.