What is bladder instillation and what is it used to treat?
Bladder instillation is a very effective modality to manage multiple benign and malignant conditions involving the bladder. It typically involves catheterisation with a self lubricated catheter and an installation of a drug to the bladder.
In Bladder cancer, chemotherapy or immunotherapy can be installed to the bladder to treat patients with intermediate and high risk non muscle invasive bladder cancer. These sessions are usually repeated weekly till the course of treatment is finished.
For benign conditions, such as interstitial cystitis, recurrent urinary tract infections, bladder pain syndrome and chemical or radiation cystitis. Multiple preparations are used to alleviate symptoms, typically these medications contain Hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulphate and calcium chloride. Few examples of these treatments are iAluril or cystostat and are used in 6 weekly courses.
Most of these treatments will require maintenance doses once the initial induction course is finished and that can be determined once response to the initial treatment is assessed.