Sj. Hampson et al., SEARCH FOR MYCOBACTERIA IN INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS USING MYCOBACTERIA-SPECIFIC DNA PROBES WITH SIGNAL AMPLIFICATION BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION, British Journal of Urology, 72(3), 1993, pp. 303-306
The aetiology of interstitial cystitis is not known. Various infective
agents have been postulated and although recognised as perpetrators o
f chronic inflammatory conditions, mycobacteria have never been satisf
actorily excluded from interstitial cystitis. If present in interstiti
al cystitis tissue, mycobacteria exist either in very small numbers or
in forms which contemporary staining techniques fail to recognise. We
used a polymerase chain reaction with mycobacteria-specific DNA probe
s and found no evidence of mycobacterial involvement in 8 cases of pro
ven interstitial cystitis.