• DOI:10.1136/bmj.b2707
• Corpus ID: 46448787

The management of interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome in women

@article{Marinkovic2009TheMO,
  title={The management of interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome in women},
  author={Serge P Marinkovic and Robert Moldwin and Lisa M. Gillen and Stuart L. Stanton},
  journal={BMJ : British Medical Journal},
  year={2009},
  volume={339}
}

• S. Marinkovic, R. Moldwin, +1 author S. Stanton
• Published 31 July 2009
• Medicine
• BMJ : British Medical Journal

#### Summary points

Interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome is a chronic, often debilitating, condition largely defined by symptoms of urinary urgency and frequency associated with pelvic pain that varies with bladder filling.1 Unlike bladder inflammation caused by bacterial infection, the condition occurs in the absence of urinary tract infection or other obvious pathology. Resulting discomfort may range from abdominal tenderness to intense pain. This difficult clinical entity has prompted debate with regard to definition, aetiology, and best methods of treatment. This review discusses the diagnosis and management of interstitial cystitis according to current best evidence. Few Oxford scale levels 1 and 2 evidence based research studies in interstitial cystitis are available because of the ethical difficulties in conducting randomised trials in this area. We have therefore referred to evidence that represents the majority opinion of researchers as being clinically relevant.

#### Sources and selection criteria

We conducted a Medline search for the years 1988-2009, using the key words “interstitial cystitis”, “painful bladder syndrome”, and “bladder inflammation.” We initially selected 118 references, but only 26 were used.

The pathological features of bladder epithelial damage and related blood vessel …