The Time Has Come: IC/BPS for Therapists in Hungary

A short introduction was given from an emotional point of view, describing all the difficulties a patient with chronic pain has to face on a daily basis . Then Dr. Lovász elaborated that there were doctors, even urologists who had never heard of IC/BPS, the diagnosis rate of the disease was terribly low, and even the lucky who were diagnosed correctly waited for long years.

A clear overview was explained in the presentations. Diagnosing and treating IC/BPS is a complicated process. Therapy usually must include diet, as well as administering oral and local medicine – the latter means bladder instillation. The most effective treatment must essentially be tailored to the patient, him or herself, focusing on the severity of the symptoms, as well. Nevertheless, in most cases, the most convenient way to treat IC/BPS is to combine all the available possibilities. However, to minimize the delay of starting therapy, applying less painful procedures and providing solutions at a reasonable price are factors that might be considered as well.

It was also revealed that there had been several devices and methods under development in the previous 10 years – regarding certain cases, the work had already been completed. For instance, evaluating the status of the GAG-layer, which covers the inner surface of the bladder could be done by the patients themselves, on their own, in the form of a voiding diary. (Usually, the typical symptoms of IC/BPS are caused by the deficiencies of this layer.) The same method – called the GAG-layer integrity test – can be used for learning the actual condition of a patient who has already been treated so that the efficiency of the therapy can be evaluated, too. As a supplemental oral treatment, a urine alkalizing pill developed especially for IC/BPS patients can also be applied. This product raises the urine pH, thus, improving the symptoms, and will be available on the market in the first months of 2023. The UroDapter®, which replaces catheters during bladder instillation, has been available in several countries in Europe for years. This device can be used together with a modular self-instillation aiding system. It has already been used successfully by more than 70 female patients in Hungary. An optimized bladder instillation cocktail has been under development, too. The currently available drugs, unfortunately, do not provide a response rate high enough.

Still, even these novelties can help very little if the patients are not diagnosed if there are not enough urologists who actually apply the up-to-date treatment methods. The training shed light on and started to improve the desperate situation at hand. Those who attended it could see the whole picture of IC/BPS, which alone gave hope that in the near future there would be more specialists focusing on this debilitating disease than in the last few decades.

UroSystem was delighted to be able to host this training. The outcome exceeded our expectations and we can’t wait for more events similar to this one. Tune in for our next training / event on our new ‘events’ page!

Yours truly,
UroSystem Team