Research uncovers diagnostic clues for rare bladder disease

An international team of researchers has identified a biomarker associated with interstitial cystitis, a painful bladder disease that demands constant urination. Through the process of DNA methylation analysis, researchers found biomarkers in the urine of people with IC that could improve the ability of physicians in New York to diagnose the disease accurately and early.

People generally receive a diagnosis for this chronic condition after physicians rule out all other possibilities. The absence of a test for IC means that patients often first go through tests and treatments for urinary tract infections, kidney stones or cancer.

The condition afflicts about 2 to 4 percent of men and 3 to 6 percent of women. Symptoms can become debilitating. Some sufferers must use the bathroom 60 times every day. The disease can reduce their ability to work, sleep or socialize. Treatments to control symptoms sometimes offer relief. Early treatment is important, however, because frequent urination shrinks the bladder and exacerbates the problem. The new research has opened promising new lines of investigation about the biomarkers for this disease that could produce more effective treatments in the future.

A failure to timely diagnose a disease means that a patient could miss opportunities for treatment or receive unnecessary treatment. Meanwhile, the actual disease has time to worsen. In some cases, a physician's inability to identify a problem could be the result of negligence. To pursue financial damages related to a worsened condition or medical bills that could have been avoided, a patient who has been harmed in this manner might want to seek out the assistance of a medical malpractice attorney.