Latest perspective in OAB treatment

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a clinical syndrome characterized by troublesome symptoms namely urgency, often with urinary incontinence, frequency and nocturia. Although the condition is not life threatening, it induces a great negative impact on patients' quality of life and produces a plethora of healthcare concerns, with consequent, marked costs for the health systems. Despite the difficulties, science does not stop and research in the molecular, clinical, and technological fields continues, outlining a horizon full of new possibilities. On a physio pathological point of view the good news appears to be patient phenotyping according to the presence of different cofactors playing an important role on the development and course of the disease, and possibly, on the response to treatment. Patients' phenotyping will have necessarily to induce the physicians to change their attitude towards affected patients, using a broader view, outside the boundaries of the bladder and urethra. And apart from the well-known and currently applied treatments, there are more therapies coming out. With regards to pharmacological agents, new B3-AR agonists, novel TRPV1 inhibitors and P2X3 antagonists, and cannabinoid receptor agonists are currently under investigation in both pre-clinical and clinical studies. Among new technologies, several tibial nerve stimulators are in development, and different organ stimulation are being realizing; also, new delivery systems are under investigation to improve intravesical drug administration, and radiofrequency devices therapy appears to be an exciting treatment possibility.