Botox relaxes overactive bladders

The anti-wrinkle injection Botox, made of the botulinum toxin, appears to be a safe and effective treatment in women with overactive bladders. Botox has been used successfully in patients with difficulty in controlling their bladders due to a spinal cord injury, but few studies have examined this approach in people with an overactive bladder for which the cause is not known. Researchers from the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland prospectively studied 15 women who were given a single injection of Botox into the bladder muscle. Immediately after the injection, all but one woman noted an improvement in the classic and bothersome symptoms of urgency and frequency. The volume at first urge to void increased significantly in 13 women and the maximum bladder capacity increased in 10. The effects of a single injection of Botox lasted for 20 to 24 weeks. In 13 patients, symptoms returned to the baseline approximately 24 weeks after treatment (with a range of 10 to 52 weeks). The incontinence episodes appeared to return to baseline levels much earlier than did those involving frequency. The findings suggest that the treatment is safe, clinically effective and is a viable alternative when conventional therapies have failed to produce symptomatic improvement in women with overactive bladders.