Background: The most common and bothersome lower urinary tract complication of diabetes mellitus is diabetic neurogenic bladder (DNB). Acupuncture has certain advantages in treating bladder dysfunction including urinary retention and incontinence. Therefore, we think that electroacupuncture (EA) may be beneficial to DNB patients. However, it is not clear whether EA combined with basic western medicine could optimize the therapeutic effect for DNB.
Method/design: This is a sham-controlled, patient-blinded, pioneer randomized controlled trial (RCT). One hundred fifty eligible patients will be randomly divided into 3 groups: A. basic western medicine (BWC), B. EA with BWC, C. sham EA with BWC. EA treatment will be given twice a week for 12 weeks at bilateral BL23, BL32, BL33, and BL35. The BWC group will received Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) and methylcobalamin (MC) treatment for 12 weeks, 2 treatment sessions per week. The primary outcome is scored by the 72-hour bladder diary (72h-BD). The secondary outcomes will be scored by the American Urological Association symptom index (AUA-SI), Post-void residual urine volume (PVR) and urodynamic tests. All the assessments will be conducted at baseline and the 12th weeks after the intervention starts. The follow-up assessments will be performed with 72h-BD and AUA-SI in the 4th, 12th, and 24th weeks after intervention ends.
Discussion: This trial protocol provides an example of the clinical application acupuncture treatment in the management of DNB. This RCT will provide us information on the effect of treating DNB patients with only acupuncture, western medicine therapy (ALA + MC) as well as the combination of both. The additive effect or synergistic effect of acupuncture and basic western medicine will then be analyzed.
Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2000030421.