Interstitial Cystitis – Bladder Pain Syndrome (IC-BPS)

Background:

“Interstitial Cystitis – Bladder Pain Syndrome” (IC-BPS), is a chronic discomfort arising from the lower urinary tract. IC-BPS is a chronic (lifetime) condition, of unknown aetiology, and with no recent breakthroughs for its management.

Millions of people suffer from IC-BPS. There are no conclusive diagnostic tests or reliable therapies, pharmacological or surgical. Therefore, by default, IC-BPS is often blamed on “psychosomatic factors”, “stress”, or hypothetical abnormalities of the mucosa.

IC-BPS does not respond well to surgical treatment. Therefore it does not excite urological surgeons who are trained to deal with other life-and-death issues on a daily basis.

In this environment, I doubted that 21st Century technology had been used to investigate this disorder thoroughly. Had genomics ruled out viral and bacterial causes? Had electrophysiologic abnormalities been excluded?

This website will help patients easily participate in our clinical research. By applying High Resolution Ultrasound Imaging, bacterial and human genomics, electrophysiology and continuous non-invasive data collection, we hope to discover the cause and a cure.

The first researcher employed in this role was Dr. Antonina Volikova (AV), a general surgeon with experience in ultrasonography and radiology. AV will spend time collecting information from patients and performing necessary investigations for this vital research. The urologists providing guidance are Rob Goodwin at SCGH and Jessica Yin (who has a special interest in IC-BPS) at Hollywood Hospital.

Barry Marshall: Nobel Laureate in Medicine, 2005