Effects of onabotulinum toxin‐A injection on sexual function in women with refractory interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome: A prospective study

Objectives To determine the effect of intravesical onabotulinum toxin‐A (BoNT‐A) treatment on sexual functions in female patients with refractory interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS). Methods Female patients with IC/BPS refractory to previous treatments were included in the study between January 2020 and April 2022. Patients were treated with the trigone‐sparing injection (Group 1) or trigone‐included injection (Group 2) techniques. 100 Units of BoNT‐A was applied submucosally on 20 different points. The patients were evaluated with visual analog scale (VAS), O'Leary‐Sant Interstitial Cystitis Symptom Index (ICSI), Interstitial Cystitis Problem Index (ICPI), Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaires, 3‐day voiding diary, uroflowmetry, and post‐voiding residual volume analysis in the preoperative period, as well as on the 30th and 90th days postoperatively. For the repeated measurements, analysis of variance was used to assess the time‐dependent variation across groups. Results The baseline FSFI score of the patients was 15.96 ± 3.82. Following the treatment, the FSFI scores were 22.43 ± 4.93 and 24.41 ± 5.94 on the 30th and 90th days, respectively (p