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    Appendix A: Methods and literature search strategy

    Methods and literature search strategy

    NICE has identified studies and reviews relevant to intravesical electrical stimulation for intravesical cystitis or overactive bladder from the medical literature.

    Search strategy design and peer review

    This search report is informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses literature search extension (PRISMA-S).

    A NICE information specialist ran the literature searches on 29 February 2024. See the search strategy history for the full search strategy for each database. Relevant published studies identified during consultation or resolution that are published after this date may also be considered for inclusion.

    The principal search strategy was developed in MEDLINE ALL (Ovid interface). It was adapted for use in each of the databases listed in table 4a, taking into account the database's size, search functionality and subject coverage. The MEDLINE ALL strategy was quality assured by a NICE senior information specialist. All translated search strategies were peer reviewed to ensure their accuracy. The quality assurance and peer review procedures were adapted from the Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies (PRESS) 2015 evidence-based checklist.

    Review management

    The search results were managed in EPPI‑Reviewer version 5 (EPPI‑R5). Duplicates were removed in EPPI‑R5 using a 2‑step process. First, automated deduplication was done using a high-value algorithm. Second, manual deduplication was used to assess low-probability matches. All decisions about inclusion, exclusion and deduplication were recorded and stored.

    Limits and restrictions

    The search was not limited by date.

    The CENTRAL database search removed trial registry records and conference material. The Embase search excluded conference material.

    English language limits were applied to the search when possible in the database.

    The limit to remove animal studies in the searches is standard NICE practice, which has been adapted from Dickersin K, Scherer R, Lefebvre C (1994) Systematic Reviews: Identifying relevant studies for systematic reviews. BMJ 309(6964): 1286.

    Search strategy history

    Medline search strategy

    1 Cystitis, Interstitial/ 2675

    2 ((interstitial or panmural or submucosal) adj4 cystiti*).tw. 3910

    3 ((bladder or hunner* or submucosal or panmural) adj4 (ulcus or ulcer)).tw. 189

    4 (pain* adj4 bladder adj4 syndrome*).tw. 1811

    5 Urinary bladder, overactive/ 6096

    6 Urinary Incontinence/ 24902

    7 Urinary Incontinence, Urge/ 1173

    8 (urin* adj4 (urge* or frequ* or excessive or overactive or incontinen*)).tw. 38034

    9 (inflammat* adj4 (bladder or urinary)).tw. 2726

    10 pelvic pain/ 6840

    11 (pain* adj4 pelvic).tw. 13556

    12 Nocturia/ 1196

    13 (nocturia or nycturia).tw. 4194

    14 (nocturnal adj4 diuresis).tw. 77

    15 or/1-14 76380

    16 IVES.tw. 182

    17 EMDA.tw. 101

    18 (electr* adj4 (administrat* or instillat*)).tw. 3063

    19 ((electr* adj4 (therap* or stimulat*)) and intravesical).tw. 208

    20 "physionizer".tw. 4

    21 administration, intravesical/ 4723

    22 ((intravesical or bladder) adj4 (administration* or instillat* or applicat* or dos* or infus*)).tw. 3883

    23 or/16-22 10164

    24 15 and 23 1262

    25 Animals/ not humans/ 5165959

    26 24 not 25 996

    27 limit 26 to english language 872

    Embase search strategy

    1 interstitial cystitis/ 6642

    2 ((interstitial or panmural or submucosal) adj3 cystiti*).tw. 5943

    3 ((bladder or hunner* or submucosal or panmural) adj3 (ulcus or ulcer)).tw. 263

    4 (pain* adj3 bladder adj3 syndrome*).tw. 3183

    5 urine incontinence/ 57435

    6 urge incontinence/ 8165

    7 (urin* adj4 (urge* or frequ* or excessive or overactive or incontinen*)).tw. 64980

    8 (inflammat* adj4 (bladder or urinary)).tw. 3983

    9 pelvic pain/ 11044

    10 (pain* adj4 pelvic).tw. 22429

    11 nocturia/ 9896

    12 (nocturia or nycturia).tw. 7525

    13 (nocturnal adj3 diuresis).tw. 116

    14 or/1-13 135491

    15 "IVES".tw. 266

    16 "EMDA".tw. 152

    17 (electr* adj4 (administration or instillation)).tw. 4056

    18 ((electr* adj3 (therapy or stimulation)) and intravesical).tw. 307

    19 "physionizer".tw. 7

    20 intravesical drug administration/ 3307

    21 ((intravesical or bladder) adj4 (administration* or instillation* or application* or dose* or infusion*)).tw. 11119

    22 or/15-21 17278

    23 14 and 22 1960

    24 nonhuman/ not human/ 5390043

    25 23 not 24 1642

    26 (conference abstract* or conference review or conference paper or conference proceeding).db,pt,su. 5851002

    27 25 not 26 1022

    28 limit 27 to english language 870

    CDSR and Central (Wiley) search strategy

    #1 MeSH descriptor: [Cystitis, Interstitial] explode all trees 250

    #2 ((interstitial or panmural or submucosal) near/3 cystiti*):ti,ab 530

    #3 ((bladder or hunner* or submucosal or panmural) near/3 (ulcus or ulcer)):ti,ab 48

    #4 (pain* near/3 bladder near/3 syndrome*):ti,ab 330

    #5 MeSH descriptor: [Urinary Bladder, Overactive] explode all trees 1204

    #6 MeSH descriptor: [Urinary Incontinence] explode all trees 3498

    #7 MeSH descriptor: [Urinary Incontinence, Urge] explode all trees 297

    #8 (urina* near/4 (urge* or frequ* or excessive or overactive or incontinen*)):ti,ab 7996

    #9 (inflammat* near/4 (bladder or urinary)):ti,ab 226

    #10 MeSH descriptor: [Pelvic Pain] explode all trees 1752

    #11 (pain* near/4 pelvic):ti,ab 2667

    #12 MeSH descriptor: [Nocturia] explode all trees 191

    #13 (nocturia or nycturia):ti,ab 1265

    #14 (nocturnal near/3 diuresis):ti,ab 18

    #15 {or #1-#14} 14325

    #16 "IVES":ti,ab 29

    #17 "EMDA":ti,ab 30

    #18 (electr* near/4 (administration or instillation)):ti,ab 385

    #19 ((electr* near/3 (therapy or stimulation)) and intravesical):ti,ab 16

    #20 "physionizer":ti,ab 2

    #21 MeSH descriptor: [Administration, Intravesical] explode all trees 631

    #22 ((intravesical or bladder) near/4 (administration* or instillation* or application* or dose* or infusion*)):ti,ab 1136

    #23 {or #16-#22} 1873

    #24 #15 and #23 329

    INAHTA search strategy

    1. ((nocturnal AND diuresis)) OR ((nocturia or nycturia)) OR ("Nocturia"[mh]) OR ((pain* AND pelvic)) OR ("Pelvic Pain"[mh]) OR ((inflammat* AND (bladder OR urinary))) OR ((urin* AND (urge* OR frequ* OR excessive OR overactive OR incontinen*))) OR ("Urinary Incontinence, Urge"[mh]) OR ("Urinary Incontinence"[mh]) OR ("Urinary Bladder, Overactive"[mh]) OR ((pain* AND bladder AND syndrome*)) OR (((bladder OR hunner* OR submucosal OR panmural) AND (ulcus OR ulcer))) OR ((((interstitial OR panmural OR submucosal) AND cystiti*))) OR ("Cystitis, Interstitial"[mh])

    2. (((intravesical or bladder) AND (administration* or instillation* or application* or dose* or infusion*))) OR ("Administration, Intravesical"[mh]) OR ("physionizer") OR ((intravesical) AND (((electr* AND (therapy OR stimulation)))) OR ((electr* AND (administration OR instillation))) OR ("EMDA") OR ("IVES")

    3. 1 AND 2 Limit to English langauge

    Inclusion criteria

    The following inclusion criteria were applied to the abstracts identified by the literature search:

    • Publication type: clinical studies were included with emphasis on identifying good quality studies. Abstracts were excluded if they did not report clinical outcomes. Reviews, editorials, and laboratory or animal studies, were also excluded and so were conference abstracts, because of the difficulty of appraising study methodology, unless they reported specific adverse events not available in the published literature.

    • People with interstitial cystitis or overactive bladder.

    • Intervention or test: electrically stimulated intravesical therapy.

    • Outcome: articles were retrieved if the abstract contained information relevant to the safety, efficacy, or both.

      If selection criteria could not be determined from the abstracts the full paper was retrieved.

      Potentially relevant studies not included in the main evidence summary are listed in Appendix B: Other relevant studies.

      Find out more about how NICE selects the evidence for the committee.