Dec 17 2008
Diagnostic Breakthrough for Interstitial Cystitis
Japanese urologists and researchers have discovered a new diagnostic breakthrough for Interstitial Cystitis patients! It can be difficult for urologists to make a diagnosis of Interstitial Cystitis and diagnosing the bladder lesions that are a hallmark feature of the illness can also be difficult to do sometimes.
The Department of Urology, Kyoto City Hospital, Kyoto, Japan, goal was to develop an IC Disease diagnosis method using a cystoscope with a narrow-band imaging (NBI) system that can detect mucosal angiogenic lesions.
The Japanese researchers and doctors have discovered that by using a flexible cystoscope with the NBI system allows them to easily detect the ulcers and lesions that are typically associated with IC Disease. Here is more information on this new research.
Fifty-two subjects suspected of having IC between October 2006 and June 2007 were included in this study. There were 49 women and three men, ranging in age from 19 through 85 with an average age of 59. First, conventional cystoscopy under spinal anesthesia was performed to examine the ulcerative lesions by a urological specialist. Then, other health care professionals made a separate observation of capillary-rich areas of the superficial layer of the bladder mucosa by cystoscopy with the NBI system.
Among the 52 patients, 37 cases were found to have ulcers by conventional cystoscopy, which were also recognized as capillary-rich brownish areas using the NBI system (100% accuracy); 13 cases were found to have NBI-positive areas without ulcer, which were coincided with those with petechial hemorrhages and glomerulations following subsequent hydrodistention; and two cases of normal mucosa were detected. Furthermore, six cases of bladder cancer (carcinoma in situ) were detected by biopsies that were obtained from the ulcerative lesions positively identified by NBI cystoscopy.
