Applicability of Parasacral Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation in the Treatment of Overactive Bladder

Overactive bladder is defined as a syndrome whose main symptom is urinary urgency in the absence of infectious factors. It is also characterized by the presence or absence of incontinence, which may or may not be accompanied by pollakiuria and nocturia. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of Parasacral transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in the treatment of overactive bladder of non-neurological origin. This is a bibliographic review through research in databases such as Pubmed, Lilacs and Virtual Health Library with the descriptors: parasacral electrical stimulation, transcutaneous neuromodulation, bladder hyperactivity, urinary urgency and Overactive Urinary Bladder, in Portuguese and English. Sixteen articles were found, involving studies that addressed parasacral transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in the treatment of idiopathic overactive bladder. From this review, it became possible to conclude that although previous studies clarified that parasacral transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation is effective, in some way, for the improvement of clinical symptoms of idiopathic overactive bladder, it was not possible to standardize the best protocols, to parameters such as frequency, pulse width and current intensity, as well as the number of sessions, treatment time and frequency. However, there was a prevalence of studies using protocols with low frequency and high pulse width. Possibly, the number of weekly sessions is not a predictor of improvement.