Optimal Pulse Width Used in Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for Treating Nocturnal Enuresis in Children

November 16, 2023 updated by: Adam Howe, MD, Albany Medical College

Optimal Pulse Width Used in Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) for Treating Nocturnal Enuresis in Children

Children referred to pediatric urology clinic for primary nocturnal enuresis will be screened for enrollment. Patients who fail will next be offered therapy with a bedwetting alarm device or a TENS unit as an alternative, and those who chose TENS therapy will be included in the study.The patients will be randomized into two groups of 35 patients each.Group 1 will be the high pulse width set at 260us. Group 2 will be the low pulse width set at 50us. The patients will be provided with a TENS unit and electrode pads and caretakers instructed on how to use the apparatus. The child's TENS unit will be set at a pulse width determined by randomization, frequency of 10Hz, and an intensity to be determined in the office based upon when the child feels sensitive to the TENS unit. The child will be randomized and will place the electrodes along the posterior tibial nerve on the medial ankle each night before bed time for 30 minutes for a total of 30 days. Diaries including nighttime incontinence episodes and a "wet sheet" scale (dry, damp, wet, soaked) will be recorded, along with any adverse reactions to the TENS unit. Patients will be followed up after one month of TENS with evaluation including the Bowel & Bladder Questionnaire (BBQ), a validated tool for measuring symptoms in children with voiding dysfunction [6]; this questionnaire will be filled out prior to starting TENS treatment in order to compare the effect of treatment. The data will be collected at different time points (baseline and after 1 month of treatment) for each group by itself and the groups compared against each other using statistical analysis.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Institutional review board approval was obtained. Children ages 5-17 years old referred to the pediatric urology clinic at Albany Medical Center Department of Urology for primary nocturnal enuresis will be screened for enrollment. If a 17 year old turns 18 during study participation, the subject will be consented as an adult using the Informed Consent Form and parental permission is no longer needed. Behavioral modification (limiting evening drinking, double voiding prior to bedtime, bowel habits, social anxiety factors) will be utilized first. Patients who fail will next be offered therapy with a bedwetting alarm device as standard therapy or participation in a research study using a TENS unit. Patients who have previously tried pharmacologic treatment for nocturnal enuresis or alternative therapy for urologic disorders within the pasty 30 days, daytime incontinence symptoms, known "high volume" voiders (determined from history), bedwetting episodes on the average of less than one time per week, medications predisposing to incontinence (eg, Lithium for bipolar disorder), other known voiding or neurologic disorders (eg, overactive bladder, myelomeningocele), secondary etiologies for nocturnal enuresis (eg, cystitis, obstructive sleep apnea, urinary fistulae), prior use of a TENS unit or other neuromodulation for bedwetting, and any contraindications to usage of a TENS unit (other electrical devices such as a pacemaker, pregnancy, bleeding or clotting disorders, unhealthy tissue, seizure disorders, malignancy, impaired cognition)will be excluded. Patients who have previously tried the bedwetting alarm will not be excluded from the study.

The patients will be randomized into two groups of 35 patients each. Group 1 will be the high pulse width set at 260us. Group 2 will be the low pulse width set at 50us. There is no sham group in this study as we have previously found posterior tibial TENS to be effective and lasting, and as such all patients will be "treated" to be best of our knowing. We will aim to recruit 35 patients per group for a total of 70 patients.

Detailed explanation of the purpose if the study, along with the risks and benefits of TENS will be given to the patient and caretakers by a provider prior to obtaining informed consent for enrollment into the study. The patients will be provided with a TENS unit and electrode pads and caretakers instructed on how to use the apparatus.

Parents/patients of enrolled patients will fill out nightly voiding diaries, recording nighttime incontinence episodes and subjective "wet sheets" scale per night (dry, damp, wet, soaked) for 30 days prior to randomization into the treatment arms. The TENS sessions will be performed nightly at bedtime for 30 minutes for 30 days. TENS units will be set at a pulse width determined by randomization, frequency of 10Hz, and intensity determined in the office by the sensitivity threshold of the patient. Voiding diaries will be kept each night while on TENS therapy. A voiding diary will also be completed 30 days before TENS treatment, patients and families will fill out the Bowel & Bladder Questionnaire (BBQ), a validated tool for measuring symptoms in children with bladder dysfunction. Patients will follow up at day 30 and as needed (worsening symptoms, adverse reactions, concerns, and questions regarding usage of TENS). Patients who record 2 wet nights per week (a total of 8/30=27% wet nights) will be eligible for the TENS study. Those who record less than 2 wet nights per week will be ineligible for the TENS study but will be offered therapy using a bedwetting alarm device or other treatment.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

70

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

  • Name: Brenda Romeo, CCRC
  • Phone Number: 518-262-3349
  • Email: romeob@amc.edu

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • Albany, New York, United States, 12208
        • Recruiting
        • Albany Medical College
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Adam Howe, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Barry Kogan, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Karla Giramonti, FNP
        • Contact:
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Alexandra Rehfuss, MD

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Presenting with nocturnal enuresis (more than 1x a week)
  2. Failed Behavioral modification treatment (limiting evening drinking, double voiding prior to bedtime, bowel habits, social anxiety factors) during the 30 day period prior to randomization
  3. Ability to provide informed consent and assent and complete study requirements

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients who have previously tried pharmacologic treatment for nocturnal enuresis, neuromodulation or other alternative therapy for urologic disorders within the past 30 days
  2. Daytime incontinence symptoms
  3. Known "high volume" voiders (determined from history)
  4. Bedwetting episodes on the average of less than two times per week,
  5. Medications predisposing to incontinence (eg, Lithium for bipolar disorder)
  6. Other known voiding or neurologic disorders (eg, overactive bladder, myelomeningocele, interstitial cystitis, etc)
  7. Secondary etiologies for nocturnal enuresis (eg, cystitis, obstructive sleep apnea, urinary fistulae, heart disease)
  8. Any contraindications to usage of a TENS unit (pacemaker or other implantable device, lymphedema, pregnancy, malignancy, bleeding or clotting disorders, unhealthy tissue, seizure disorders, impaired cognition)
  9. Any history of heart disease or complications

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Pulse Width 260us
electrodes placed per treatment arm, performed at bedtime, session time 30 min, frequency setting of 10Hz, pulse width setting 260us, intensity setting to patient's tolerance, duration 30 days
Device: Pulse Width 260us
electrodes placed per treatment arm, performed at bedtime, session time 30 min, frequency setting of 10Hz, pulse width setting 260us, intensity setting to patient's tolerance, duration 30 days
Other Names:
  • TENS
Experimental: Pulse Width 50us
electrodes placed per treatment arm, performed at bedtime, session time 30 min, frequency setting of 10Hz, pulse width setting 50us, intensity setting to patient's tolerance, duration 30 days
Device: Pulse Width 50us
electrodes placed per treatment arm, performed at bedtime, session time 30 min, frequency setting of 10Hz, pulse width setting 50us, intensity setting to patient's tolerance, duration 30 days
Other Names:
  • TENS

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Percentage of wet nights
Time Frame: 30 days
Percent of wet nights per month compared in each TENS arm and baseline wet nights
30 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Severity of Wet nights
Time Frame: 30 days
Mean score (0 dry to 3 soaked) of subjective severity of wetness each night during treatment month compared to baseline month
30 days
Bowel and Bladder questionnaire (BBQ)
Time Frame: 30 days
Score of 0-36 based on subjective voiding and stooling questionnaire (higher scores indicate worse outcomes)
30 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Albany Medical College

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Adam Howe, MD, Albany Medical College

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 24, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2024

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 13, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 13, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

November 18, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 18, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 16, 2023

Last Verified

November 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 6429

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Nocturnal Enuresis

Clinical Trials on Pulse Width 260us

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Trinidad & Tobago

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

3
Subscribe