ElectroMotive Drug Administration for Bacterial Cystitis
Bacterial cystitis is a common infection, said to affect 50% of the female population at least once in their life.
However, for some it can be a recurrent and unpleasant experience. Suffers may follow all the advice to prevent infections – refer to the Preventative Advice web page - but bacterial cystitis may return time and time again, resulting in the need to take repeated courses of oral antibiotics.
If you suffer from repeated attacks, it is important that a sample of urine is tested to identify the type of bacteria to determine the specific antibiotic, at the right dose, and the length of time that it will need to be taken, to eliminate the bacteria. If treatment is not completed, or the symptoms ignored for any length of time, the bacteria will increase in number and there is a danger the infection will travel up to the kidneys.
In rare circumstances hospital admission may become necessary to allow the administration of a course of intravenous antibiotics.
Occasionally antibiotic treatment taken orally or intravenously will not permanently remove the infection.
A method of sending the antibiotics straight to the infected area has been developed. The antibiotics used are of a much higher concentration than would be possible to take either orally or intravenously. The method of delivering them is known as Iontophoresis or ElectroMotive Drug Administration (EMDA).
EMDA uses an electrical current to send the concentrated antibiotic solution to the infected tissues.
A urethral catheter, containing an electrode, is inserted into the bladder. Patches (containing electrodes) are placed on the patient’s skin and a small electric current is set up from the catheter to the skin patches. It is this current that enables the medication to bypass the bladder’s protective lining and penetrate the deeper layers of the bladder lining. The rate of the medication is controllable by altering the strength of the electric current.
Redness may occur where the electrodes (skin patches) were placed, and a few patients may experience skin blistering at these sites.
EMDA is a new method of drug administration and at present is only available on a very limited basis in the UK.
Before undergoing any form of treatment you should discuss it fully with your doctor, who should be able to provide you with the benefits and disadvantages of the particular treatment you are being offered.
You always have the final decision on whether to have any treatment offered to you.