Managing nocturia: Article is removed from clinical practice

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7453.1438-b

BMJ 2004;328:1438 (12 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7453.1438-b

Letter

Managing nocturia

Article is removed from clinical practice

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—I have some concerns about the article on managingnocturia by Marinkovic et al.¹

Firstly, claiming that melatonin is effective in men with nocturiais misleading. The study quoted included only 20 patients. Theauthors themselves say that the clinical importance of melatoninis uncertain.

Secondly, for an article entitled a clinical review, littlemention is made of the common causes or treatments of nocturia—forexample, bladder overactivity, prostatic disease, and urinarytract infection

Thirdly, sacral neuromodulation is not a widely suitable andrecognised treatment for nocturia. It is very expensive. Thesuccess rate of 85% quoted does not reflect the literature.On an intention to treat basis the overall success rates arein the order of 33% (similar to a placebo response). Nocturiaitself is evaluated only as a secondary end point in most studieson neuromodulation. It is an important research tool, studiedand used in . . . [Full text of this article]

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Roger Walker, consultant urologist

Christchurch, New Zealand 4710 bigrog@freeuk.com