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Wennevik GE, Meijlink JM, Hanno P, Nordling J. The role of glomerulations in Bladder Pain Syndrome – A review. J Urol. 2015 Aug 26. pii: S0022-5347(15)04683-2. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2015.06.112. [Epub ahead of print]

For decades, glomerulations (bladder hemorrhages) have been considered a diagnostic marker for interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS). Today, however, there is debate over the connection between glomerulations and IC/BPS, since glomerulations can also be found in individuals who have no such symptoms of IC/BPS. Accordingly, the authors of this study systematically looked at the available research to see if they could find valid data supporting the use of glomerulations as a marker for IC/BPS. After a comprehensive review that included a total of 29 different publications, they found no consistent relationship between glomerulations and the diagnosis of IC/BPS. Many of the studies showed no connection between the severity of symptoms in IC/BPS patients and the number of glomerulations.  Some studies reported glomerulations in healthy individuals with no IC/BPS, while others found them in patients who had an entirely different diagnosis than IC/BPS. The bottom line, they said, is that they found “no convincing evidence” for considering glomerulations to be indicative of IC/BPS.