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New Article Seems Very Promising
Hi All,
I am a college student with IC who has a mom very active in keeping herself updated about IC research. Just a couple weeks ago my mom found this article that came out in February in the British Journal of Urology. I was surprised no one had commented about it yet so I thought I would post it here.
The article discusses the cause of IC being leaky bladder epithelium cells, a theory that has been around for a while but this paper takes it to the next level. In addition the author argues that the following conditions are caused by the same phenomenon with varying degrees of severity and location: urethral syndrome, overactive bladder, chronic prostatitis, urethritis, or a type of gynecologic pelvic pain (such as endometriosis, vulvodynia, or some type of vaginitis).
I am really convinced this is a major factor in IC and was actually brought to tears when reading this article because it gave me hope that if the cause has been found, a cure or at least a really good treatment may only be a few years away.
Here is the abstract:
What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? This article reviews entirely new concepts concerning the etiology, presentation and diagnosis of interstitial cystitis. It pulls the information together in a concise fashion that emphasizes there is a radical change taking place in the concepts of what generates bladder symptoms. Primarily this emphasizes that the paradigm for interstitial cysititis and the generation of bladder symptoms is going to change dramatically. The data reviewed shows that the symptoms are caused by a leaky epithelium and subsequent diffusion of potassium into the tissues causing frequency, urgency, pain and incontinence. This is totally different from current concepts. The traditional diagnosis of interstitial cystitis (IC) only recognizes the severe form of the disease. The far more common early and intermittent phases of the disease are not perceived to be part of IC but rather are misdiagnosed as urinary tract infection, urethral syndrome, overactive bladder, chronic prostatitis, urethritis, or a type of gynecologic pelvic pain (such as endometriosis, vulvodynia, or some type of vaginitis). All of these patient groups actually suffer from the same bladder disease. This disease results from a leaky bladder epithelium and subsequent potassium leakage into the bladder interstitium that generates the symptoms of frequency, urgency, pain or incontinence in any combination. Robust scientific data now support this important concept. These data will be reviewed herein. The conclusions derived from these data substantially alter the paradigms for urology and gynecology in the generation of frequency, urgency and pelvic pain. All the above-mentioned syndromes unite into one primary disease process, lower urinary dysfunction epithelium, or LUDE disease, and not the 10 plus syndromes traditionally recognized.
The full article is fascinating but a bit too long to reprint here. I would love to hear what other people think of this.
I am a college student with IC who has a mom very active in keeping herself updated about IC research. Just a couple weeks ago my mom found this article that came out in February in the British Journal of Urology. I was surprised no one had commented about it yet so I thought I would post it here.
The article discusses the cause of IC being leaky bladder epithelium cells, a theory that has been around for a while but this paper takes it to the next level. In addition the author argues that the following conditions are caused by the same phenomenon with varying degrees of severity and location: urethral syndrome, overactive bladder, chronic prostatitis, urethritis, or a type of gynecologic pelvic pain (such as endometriosis, vulvodynia, or some type of vaginitis).
I am really convinced this is a major factor in IC and was actually brought to tears when reading this article because it gave me hope that if the cause has been found, a cure or at least a really good treatment may only be a few years away.
Here is the abstract:
What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? This article reviews entirely new concepts concerning the etiology, presentation and diagnosis of interstitial cystitis. It pulls the information together in a concise fashion that emphasizes there is a radical change taking place in the concepts of what generates bladder symptoms. Primarily this emphasizes that the paradigm for interstitial cysititis and the generation of bladder symptoms is going to change dramatically. The data reviewed shows that the symptoms are caused by a leaky epithelium and subsequent diffusion of potassium into the tissues causing frequency, urgency, pain and incontinence. This is totally different from current concepts. The traditional diagnosis of interstitial cystitis (IC) only recognizes the severe form of the disease. The far more common early and intermittent phases of the disease are not perceived to be part of IC but rather are misdiagnosed as urinary tract infection, urethral syndrome, overactive bladder, chronic prostatitis, urethritis, or a type of gynecologic pelvic pain (such as endometriosis, vulvodynia, or some type of vaginitis). All of these patient groups actually suffer from the same bladder disease. This disease results from a leaky bladder epithelium and subsequent potassium leakage into the bladder interstitium that generates the symptoms of frequency, urgency, pain or incontinence in any combination. Robust scientific data now support this important concept. These data will be reviewed herein. The conclusions derived from these data substantially alter the paradigms for urology and gynecology in the generation of frequency, urgency and pelvic pain. All the above-mentioned syndromes unite into one primary disease process, lower urinary dysfunction epithelium, or LUDE disease, and not the 10 plus syndromes traditionally recognized.
The full article is fascinating but a bit too long to reprint here. I would love to hear what other people think of this.
I have sent jill a message to see if she can get it and post it here on the website.
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