Purpose: To investigate the therapeutic efficacy of intravesical platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections as prophylaxis for adult women with recurrent urinary tract infection (rUTI).
Methods: This proof-of-concept study enrolled 63 women with rUTI in PRP treatment and control groups after achieving control of the most recent urinary tract infection (UTI) episode. The treatment group included 34 women who received 4 monthly intravesical PRP injections. The control group was made up of 30 women who received continuous antibiotic treatment for 3 months. After the completion of PRP or antibiotic treatment, outpatient follow-up was continued for up to 12 months. Treatment was considered successful if ≤2 UTI episodes occurred during a period of 12 months or ≤1 UTI episode within 6 months; otherwise, the outcome was considered a treatment failure. The frequency of symptomatic UTI episodes before and after PRP treatment was compared with that of the controls. Regression analysis was used to determine the association between potential predictors for a failed treatment outcome.
Results: At the study endpoint, 33 PRP and 25 control group patients were available for analysis. After four PRP injections, the frequency of rUTI episodes per month was significantly decreased compared with baseline (0.46 ± 0.27 vs. 0.28 ± 0.30, p = 0.047). The PRP treatment success rate was 51.5% (17 of 33) for the PRP group versus 48% (12 of 25) for the control group. The PRP treatment success group had significantly higher voided volume, lower post-void residual volume, and higher voiding efficiency than the PRP treatment failure group. A higher baseline voiding efficacy ≥0.71 was significantly associated with a successful outcome (OR 16.56; p = 0.049).
Conclusions: The study results revealed that repeat intravesical PRP injections decreased the recurrence rate of UTI within 1 year in women with rUTI. The treatment success rate with intravesical PRP injections for rUTI was about 51.5%, whereas for women with prolonged antibiotic treatment, it was 48.0%. A baseline VE ≥ 0.71 was associated with a better treatment outcome with PRP injections.
Keywords: platelet-rich plasma; recurrent urinary tract infection; urothelial dysfunction.