Steroid injection efficacious for Hunner's lesions

St. Louis-Cauterizing Hunner's lesions can give huge relief to patients who have them. But there may be another way to get results that may be just as good with somewhat fewer risks-cystoscopic injection of the lesions with the steroid triamcinolone (Aristospan, Kenalog).

Investigators from the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, presented results from their series of 58 interstitial cystitis (IC) patients treated this way, reporting improvement or much improvement in 66% of the patients. These data, presented at the 2010 AUA annual meeting in San Francisco, update those from 20 patients the team presented at the 2009 International Continence Society annual meeting.

The 58 patients, who ranged in age from 28 to 89 years (mean, 69), were all treated for Hunner's lesions at the institution from 2006 to 2009. Patients had one to four lesions each, with a mean of two. Before the procedure, patients answered the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and Pelvic Pain Urgency/Frequency (PUF) questionnaires. Four weeks after the procedure and at subsequent visits, the patients answered these as well as the Patient's Global Impression of Change (PGIC) questionnaire.