Influence of Nerve Transsections and Combined Bladder Filling on Intravesical Electrostimulation-Induced Bladder Contraction in the Rat

IVES-induced contraction is, for the major part, a nerve-mediated process. However, a small bladder-pressure rise was induced by direct bladder-wall stimulation after all nerves were cut. Simultaneous electrical stimulation and bladder filling needed much shorter stimulation times than bladder filling alone or stimulation alone. If confirmed in humans, this could shorten IVES sessions substantially without altering the contractile results and could indicate that summation of afferent potentials from different triggers is possible.