Abstract

Advaces in research are changing the concept of the clinical management of chronic prostatitis, interstitial cystitis. As the new millennium begins, urologists and patients diagnosed with prostatits and interstitial cystitis can hope that exciting evolution will improve the dismal record for this disease. However, pain management is a subject afflicted by failure to identify its pathophysiological origins. The problem is most commonly experienced as 'interstitial cystitis (IC)' or 'chronic prostatitis (CP)'. The cause of chronic prostatitis (syndrome category IIIB) is not known, so causal treatment is a problem and many therapeutic options are justified on the basis of anecdote alone.
IC is a disease of the urinary bladder, which was first described by Skene in 1887. The ulcer, which is a typical cystoscopic finding in 10-50% of IC patients, was first described by Guy L. Hunner at the beginning of the last century. In 1949, when John Hand presented a large series of IC patients with varying endoscope and histopathological presentations, he realized that his material on IC did not comprise just one single entity. Cure is not currently a realistic goal so that symptom management is the only route to an improvement in quality of life. . Various medical and intravesical treatments have been proposed and investigated for IC.
When all efforts fail to relieve disabling IC symptoms, surgical removal of the diseased bladder represents an option. Three major techniques of bladder resection are common: supratrigonal (i.e. trigone-sparing) cystectomy, subtrigonal cystectomy, or radical cystectomy including excision of the urethra. All techniques require substitution of the excised bladder tissue, which is mostly performed with bowel segments. (Korean J UTII 2006;1:45-51)