Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin and dimethyl sulfoxide for treatment of classic and nonulcer interstitial cystitis: a prospective, randomized double-blind study

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent), published as a randomized controlled trial.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 21 patients were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

All 21 patients were evaluated with symptom questionnaires, including a visual analog pain scale and voiding diaries.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and crossover study.

Because people in this DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent), so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

In the crossover set-up each of the patients took both DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent) and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Adjuvants, Immunologic, Administration, Intravesical, BCG Vaccine, Cystitis, Interstitial, Dimethyl Sulfoxide, Pain Measurement and Urodynamics.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and crossover study of DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent) in 21 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2000 (The Journal of urology), a journal based in United States.

More context: the DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, non-peptide solvent) compound page, all human trials.