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Can pain help determine a diagnosis of IC?

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 Because we don’t, yet, have the perfect test, researchers continue to look for ways to help make a diagnosis of IC easier. The University of Maryland researchers, led by Jack Warren MD, have a proposal. In their EPIC study of patients with IC, they found that 97% of patients had a distinct triad of pain symptoms: (a) pain that worsened after eating certain foods and/or (b) pain that worsened as the bladder fills with urine and (c) pain that is relieved after the bladder is emptied.

To test their history, they also studied the national Interstitial Cystitis Database. Not surprisingly, that database also confirmed that 97% of patients had this unique triad of symptoms. Thus, they ask, could these be used to help make a diagnosis of IC? We say “Ofcourse”. Spend any time with an IC patient, and we almost always share how painful the bladder can become as it fills with urine and how much better we feel after we pee!

Source: Warren JW et al. Evidence-based criteria for pain of interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome in women. Urology. 2008

Courtesy : IC Optimist