Diagnosis of interstitial cystitis

We reviewed clinical and histological findings in 55 patients with interstitial cystitis and 21 with voiding dysfunction secondary to other pathological conditions. Of our interstitial cystitis patients 36% would fail to meet the research definition proposed at a recent National Institutes of Health workshop. Detrusor mastocytosis was present in 64% of our interstitial cystitis patients compared to 80% of the noninterstitial cystitis group. There was no statistically significant difference in mean detrusor mast cell counts between interstitial cystitis and noninterstitial cystitis patients. Biopsies of 12 patients who did meet the proposed National Institutes of Health research definition were evaluated by immunohistochemical techniques. Early results are inconclusive. These studies indicate that interstitial cystitis is a complex disease whose diagnosis presently still must be made from a symptom complex rather than from objective histological criteria, including mastocytosis or the presence of any specific immunoreactive cell.