BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - The traditional diagnosis of interstitial cystitis (IC) only recognizes the severe form of the disease.
The far more common early 
and intermittent phases of the disease are not perceived to be part of IC but rather are misdiagnosed as urinary tract infection, urethral syndrome, overactive bladder, chronic prostatitis, urethritis, or a type of gynecologic pelvic pain (such as endometriosis, vulvodynia, or some type of vaginitis). All of these patient groups actually suffer from the same bladder disease. This disease results from a leaky bladder epithelium and subsequent potassium leakage into the bladder interstitium that generates the symptoms of frequency, urgency, pain or incontinence in any combination. Robust scientific data now support this important concept. These data will be reviewed herein....View or save the Mini Review as a .pdf file
C. Lowell Parsons
UC San Diego Medical Center, Department of Surgery/Urology, La Jolla, CA, USA
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