IC/BPS Treatment Guideline

The purpose of the clinical guideline is to provide a clinical framework for the diagnosis and treatment of IC/BPS.

IC/BPS Treatment Guideline

The need for standardized guidelines for diagnosing and treating interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) has become very apparent over the past few years—and has generated many heated debates. The good news is that several countries and professional medical associations are now in the process of developing their own IC/BPS Guideline.

America

In March 2011, the American Urological Association (AUA) released clinical guideline including:

  • A paper describing consensus from an expert panel on the recommended diagnosis and treatment approaches for IC/BPS.
  • An algorithm providing a snapshot of the clinical treatment approach.

The ICA encourages patients to print copies of these documents and to give them to ALL of the members of their healthcare teams:

The AUA initially announced the release of preliminary IC/BPS guideline at the AUA 2010 annual meeting. On behalf of the AUA’s IC/BPS guidelines committee, Phil Hanno, MD, presented the first-ever guidelines for diagnosis and treatment from the association.

Other Countries

East Asian: An East Asian Committee, with representatives from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, published (on the website of the International Journal of Urology) a sneak preview of Clinical Guideline for Interstitial Cystitis and Hypersensitive Bladder Syndrome.

Indian: The launch of the Indian IC/PBS Society and intent to develop Indian Clinical Guideline was announced at a meeting of leading IC/PBS experts in Goa, India (June 20 to 21, 2009). Under the direction of Dr. Nagendra Mishra, the Society plans to spend a year researching treatment protocols in hopes of validating country-wide treatment guideline.

Japanese: The Japanese Urological Association’s new IC Guideline was recently published in the International Journal of Urology. Japanese Guideline for Diagnosis and Treatment of Interstitial Cystitis by Homma, Ueda, Ito, Takei, and Tomoe is a very detailed, comprehensive document that you can access for free online.