Dear Colleagues,

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) affect up to 30% of the population 65 years of age or older, evidently decreasing quality of life. The most common symptoms are stress urinary incontinence (SUI), overactive bladder (OAB), urgency urinary incontinence (UUI), and hypotonic or underactive bladder (UB). Women with LUTS may also suffer from pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Although many risk factors are identified, like age, parity, comorbidities, smoking, etc., we are not yet able to fully explain  the pathophysiology of symptoms in many cases. New light has been shed on LUTS development with the discovery of the influence of the microbiome and microbiota on human organ functioning, including the bladder. It has been found that different bacterial species may induce certain bladder symptoms and that the urinary microflora depends on age. Interestingly, besides bacterial species, many more viruses and bacteriophages have been found to live in human body and it is theorized that they may influence our functioning much more than we know. The microbiome and viriome depend on the environment in which we live and on other complex factors that we are able to change. In this context, modern neurourology and lower urinary tract functioning demand multidisciplinary attention and efforts for advancing research and practices. Many of the critical issues in this phenomenological area are cross-disciplinary in nature but have not been discussed from this point of view. Hence, this Special Issue, Frontiers in Neurourology and Urodynamics, calls for papers that conceptually and/or empirically progress beyond today’s point of view and present new approaches to elucidating the mechanisms involved in lower urinary tract functioning. Diverse forms of articles (conceptual, empirical, critical commentary, review articles, etc.) and methodologies are welcome. Overall, we hope to see papers considering bladder functioning imperatives revisited in a new context or from new disciplinary perspective(s). With this premise, the recommended topics may include but are not limited to the following:

- Underactive/hypotonic bladder;

- Overactive bladder;

- Stress urinary incontinence;

- New technology applications (e.g., big data, spectrophotometry, artificial intelligence, and internet of things) in bladder physiology and pathophysiology;

- Interdisciplinary theoretical integration of influences from other organs on bladder functioning;

- Safety and quality issues in relation to new modes of treatment;

- Decision-making and risk management in relation to newly introduced prophylactic approaches;

- Identifying new markers that might improve diagnostic and treatment processes;

- Environmental factors influencing lower urinary tract functions.

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• lower urinary tract symptoms
• urinary microbiome
• urinary viriome
• urogenital microbiota
• overactive bladder
• stress urinary incontinence
• pelvic organ prolapse
• urine proteomics
• urogenital fistula