Page 1 - Interstitial Cystitis
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Urological Health


                                Interstitial cystitis









        Interstitial cystitis is a chronic, painful condition of the bladder and/or pelvis. Your doctor will
        work with you to develop a long-term treatment plan to achieve symptom control.



          nterstitial cystitis (IC) is a painful, chronic condition   Symptoms
        Iof the bladder. Its cause is not well understood.
        It has been suggested that a defect in the bladder        Symptoms of IC are variable in nature, timing and
        lining allows irritation from unknown substances in the   severity. They may include:
        urine.
                                                                  •  Increased frequency of urination, both day and
        Urine is produced by the kidneys, carried through the       night,
        ureters and stored in the bladder until it is appropriate   •  Urgency, the uncontrollable urge to urinate, often
        to empty through the urethra.                               accompanied by increasing pelvic pain or pressure,
                                                                    and,
                The male and female urinary tracts                •  Burning or aching pain in the pelvic area, including
                                                                    the bladder, urethra, vagina, testicles, or scrotum.
                                                                    This pain is often worse before or after urination and,
                               kidneys                              in some cases, with sexual intercourse.
                                                                  Other symptoms may include general muscle aches
                                                                  and depressed mood. In some, IC may be associated
                                                                  with other chronic illnesses and pain conditions like
                                                                  fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome.
                               ureters

                 bladder                                          The presence or absence of any of these symptoms
                                            bladder
                                                                  does not make or rule out the diagnosis of IC.
                     prostate                                     Diagnosis
                                         urethra
                   urethra
                                                                  IC is diagnosed only after the exclusion of all other
                     bladder                                      possibilities including UTI, sexually transmitted diseases,
                                    urethra                       bladder cancer, and other disorders with similar
                                                                  symptoms.
                                                                  Basic urine and blood tests are often normal. Visual
        IC is sometimes referred to as the “Painful Bladder       inspection of the bladder (cystoscopy) may be
        Syndrome.” Symptoms may resemble those of a               helpful in ruling out other problems. A thin instrument
        urinary tract infection (UTI) but tests do not show       is passed through the urethra into the bladder to
        infection and antibiotics are ineffective. IC can affect   allow inspection of its lining. Rarely, patients have
        people of any age or race. Women are affected             characteristic red patches in the bladder lining called
        much more often than men (90% of cases). In every         Hunner’s ulcers which can be treated at the same
        case, treatment is available even if no cure has yet      time.
        been found.
                                                                  In IC, gentle filling of the bladder with water
                                                                  at controlled pressure (hydrodistension) may
                                                                  cause pinpoint areas of bleeding (referred to as
                                                                  “glomerulations”) in its lining. This examination is
                                                                  performed under anesthesia because such stretching
                                                                  would be very uncomfortable otherwise.


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