Etiology: Etiological and pathogenic theories of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome

Abstract

When this chapter was first written in 1990, Interstitial Cystitis (IC) had no established universally accepted definition and no widely agreed upon diagnostic criteria. Consequently, patients receiving the clinical diagnosis constituted a wide range of different phenotypes of urinary frequency, urgency or pain-a diagnosis established primarily based on symptoms-depending on the diagnostic criteria created by the individual doctor making the diagnosis.