Effects of Intravesical Lactobacillus Rhamnosus GG on Urinary Symptom Burden in People with Neurogenic Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction

Objective To test the effectiveness of intravesical Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) to reduce the burden of urinary symptoms for individuals with spinal cord injury and disease (SCI/D) with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD) who manage their bladders with intermittent catheterization (IC). Design A three-phase study (6 months each in baseline, intervention, and washout). Participants self-managed following the Self-Management Protocol using Probiotics (SMP-Pro), completing the online Urinary Symptom Questionnaire for Neurogenic Bladder-IC version (USQNB-IC) weekly. Setting Nationwide (United States). Participants Ninety-six adults and seven children with SCI/D. Interventions In response to one or both of the SMP-Pro trigger urinary symptoms, "cloudier" or "foul smelling" urine, participants self-administered using a clean urinary catheter an LGG+ Normal Saline instillate once or twice in a 30-hour period. Main Outcome Measures Change in USQNB-IC burden was adjusted individually according to the previous phase for four symptom types. Adjusted changes in burden between the intervention and washout phases were analyzed using one-sample t-tests. Holm correction was applied for the four types of symptoms: A, clinically actionable; B1, bladder function; B2, urine quality; and C, other. Results During the intervention phase, participants met SMP-Pro instillation criteria 3.83 times on average (range 1-20). An average of 5.6 doses of LGG were instilled. For those who instilled at least once, burdens of type A and B2 symptoms were significantly improved at washout (both adjusted P < .05). Conclusions Self-instilled LGG seemed to improve "clinically actionable" (A) and "urine quality" (B2) symptom burden. No changes were observed for those who did not instill. This first-in-human clinical trial supports ongoing research of intravesical LGG, and the SMP-Pro for urinary symptoms.