Sawtooth pulses are equally effective as square pulses for inducing detrusor contraction during IVES with the same electric charge. Frequency and pulse duration had, in this study, a minor influence on the efficacy of IVES. Lower frequency and/or shorter pulse duration results in lower charge and power without changing stimulation efficacy. This finding can be important for the battery life of implanted stimulators and for patient's comfort.
IVES can evoke contractions in a decentralized bladder. IVES-induced contractions are not a result of direct muscle stimulation, but are nerve mediated, involving intramural innervation and several parts of the bladder innervation. IVES-evoked contraction can be divided in a, contraction duration determining, cholinergic part and a, contraction strength determining, purinergic part. The peripheral innervation could play a role in IVES treatment in patients with interrupted central reflex pathway.
Charge-balanced waveforms, which are more preferred by patients, are equally effective in evoking IVES-induced detrusor contraction as monophasic square pulse waveforms. Thus, it can be beneficial in clinical practice to replace the monophasic square pulse waveform for IVES by charge-balanced waveforms. Furthermore, the stimulation power and thus the requested energy can be reduced by changing the waveform. This can be important for electrical stimulation using implanted batteries.
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