Papers of the Week

Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) is a chronic urological condition diagnosed in nearly 8 million females in the United States. Whether urinary microbiota play an etiologic role remains controversial. Most studies assessed the microbiota of IC/BPS patients with voided or catheterized urine as a proxy for bladder urothelium; however, urine may not be a true reflection of the bladder microbiota. Bladder biopsy tissue may provide a more accurate, and thus more clinically relevant, picture of bladder microbiota.