Long-term experience with sodium chondroitin sulfate in patients with painful bladder syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To assess the response of patients diagnosed with painful bladder syndrome to treatment with instillations of sodium chondroitin sulfate. MATERIAL AND METHODS We present a series of cases of patients with painful bladder syndrome who followed a bladder instillation protocol with sodium chondroitin sulfate, according to our centre's regimen. The response to treatment was assessed with respect to pain, according to the Downie scale; urinary frequency, according to the voiding diary; and subjective improvement, according to the Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) scale. RESULTS A total of 28 patients with a median age of 59 years (range 22-90) followed this protocol. From the medical histories, 19.4% had suffered an infection of the urinary tract, 3.8% had suffered urinary tuberculosis, 7.6% received pelvic radiation therapy and 26.9% had taken anticholinergic drugs for overactive bladder syndrome. We evaluated the response to treatment at 0, 3, 6 and 12 months and found that at the end of treatment 72.3% of the patients had improved bladder pain and 75% were significantly better. CONCLUSIONS Treatment with sodium chondroitin sulfate through endovesical instillation in painful bladder syndrome improves pain, voiding frequency and quality of life in the long term.