Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome (IC/BPS), which predominately affects women, but also men, and Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS), which affects men, are primarily defined by chronic pain in the region of the pelvis or urogenital floor. Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS), such as urinary urgency and/or frequency, commonly occur in IC/BPS and CP/CPPS patients. Considering their similar symptom profiles, IC/BPS and CP/CPPS are here collectively referred to by the research term Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (UCPPS).
The impact and burden of UCPPS to patients is enormous, with afflicted individuals suffering considerable morbidity throughout their lives and a significant decrease in quality of life for both the patient and his/her partner due to the physical and physiological impact. Diagnosis of UCPPS (i.e., IC/PBS and CP/CPPS) is primarily based on patient symptoms, due to the lack of broadly identifiable pathological findings or physical disease characteristics and, indeed, UCPPS may represent a group of related conditions with differing underlying causes. Past research studies and clinical trials have made limited progress in characterizing biological and clinical contributors, and there remains a lack of effective therapies with management of symptoms often empirical (i.e., based on trial and error). Clearly new approaches were needed to address long standing questions for UCPPS and inform clinical trials and ultimately symptom management.
