Bladder pain syndrome: A review

Objective: Bladder pain syndrome (BPS), including the specific variant interstitial cystitis, is a chronic condition characterized by bladder, urethral, and pelvic pain; urinary urgency; and urinary frequency. Bladder pain syndrome poses many clinical challenges: (1) The diagnosis is one of exclusion and is often inappropriately assigned; (2) a wide-range spectrum of symptoms can be noted in the population from minimally affected to debilitated; and (3) the etiology for the disease is unknown, which has made the development of directed therapies problematic. The objective of this article was to review the current theories of etiology of BPS and the diagnosis of BPS and understand treatment options including surgical, complementary, and pharmaceutical.