FRIDAY, Oct. 13, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Electrofulguration is associated with durable clinical cure and improvement in women with antibiotic-resistant, recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to a study published in the October issue of The Journal of Urology.

Shivani Gaitonde, M.D., from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues report on long-term outcomes of electrofulguration. The analysis included 96 nonneurogenic women with three or more symptomatic recurrent UTIs and inflammatory lesions on cystoscopy who underwent electrofulguration (2006 to 2012).

The researchers found that prior to electrofulguration, 74 percent of participants used daily antibiotic suppression, 5 percent used postcoital prophylaxis, 14 percent used self-start therapy, and 7 percent were not on prophylaxis. During a median follow-up of 11 years, 72 percent of women were cured (zero to one UTIs/year), 22 percent improved (more than one and less than three UTIs/year), and 6 percent failed (three or more UTIs per year). There was a significant decrease seen in antibiotic usage after electrofulguration. Only 5 percent of women were on continuous antibiotics after electrofulguration versus 74 percent before electrofulguration. Repeat electrofulguration occurred in 19 percent of women.

“These findings demonstrate that electrofulguration provides a durable clinical cure that enables many postmenopausal women to remain UTI-free with minimal to no continued need for antibiotic therapy,” lead author Philippe Zimmern, M.D., from the John and Felecia Cain Center for Bladder Health at UT Southwestern, said in a statement. “Just as important, electrofulguration is a well-tolerated procedure. Given the rise in recurrent UTIs among an aging population and the growth in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, electrofulguration could help treat this condition much earlier in many patients and prevent the cascade of events leading to extensive lesions of cystitis.”

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