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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2025 Jun;57(6):1689-1697.
doi: 10.1007/s11255-024-04353-6. Epub 2024 Dec 30.

Low-frequency bladder vibration for the treatment of urinary tract infections in spinal cord injury patients with neurogenic bladder

Yingying Zhang #  1 , Ping Cai #  2 , Xiaoyan Feng  2 , Qian Yang  3 , Haifang Wang  4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Low-frequency bladder vibration for the treatment of urinary tract infections in spinal cord injury patients with neurogenic bladder

Yingying Zhang et al. Int Urol Nephrol. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: Evaluate if low-frequency bladder vibration (LFBV) combined with clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) alleviated urinary tract infections (UTIs) in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients with neurogenic bladder (NB).

Methods: A single-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted. Patients who developed UTIs while rehabilitating from SCI were enrolled continuously between January 2021 and March 2023 and randomly assigned to the control or the intervention group. Patients in the intervention group received LFBV twice daily (5-10 Hz, 5-10 min each time) for 10 days. The primary endpoint was urinary leucocytes, and various other UTI indexes were also tracked. The follow-up lasted four weeks.

Results: The control group (n = 44) and the intervention group (n = 43) were indistinguishable in the basic patient characteristics. Compared to the control group, the intervention group has significantly higher urinary leucocytes on day 2 and significantly lower urinary leucocytes and urinary bacteria on day 10. Four weeks after LFBV, the intervention group had significantly lower urinary leucocytes and post-void residual volume, fewer signs and symptoms of urinary tract infection, as well as significantly higher urine volume. There was no significant change in urinary red blood cells or occult blood due to LFBV.

Conclusion: Applying LFBV to SCI/NB patients with UTIs is recommended.

Keywords: Intermittent urethral catheterization; Mechanical vibration; Neurogenic bladder; Spinal cord injury; Urinary tract infection.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval: The study was conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki and the Guideline for Good Clinical Practice. The study protocol was approved by the institutional ethics committee (No. 2018206) and all the participants provided their written informed consent.

Figures

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Fig. 1
Instrument for low-frequency bladder vibration
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Inclusion of patients
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Comparison of UTIs indexes during and after intervention
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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