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Symptoms of Bladder Pain Syndrome

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Bladder Pain Syndrome

Abstract

The cardinal symptoms of bladder pain syndrome (BPS) are pain perceived to be from the bladder, urinary urgency and frequency, and nocturia. Bladder pain has become the sole necessary criterion of BPS. Most patients report multiple BPS pain sites: 83 % suprapubic, 36 % urethral, 23 % genital, and 29 % non-genitourinary sites. Pain appears to be the driving force of urgency and nocturia. When asked the cause of urgency, about three quarters of BPS patients report pain. In nocturia, pain may play a twofold role: directly in awakening the patient and indirectly in generating the sensation of urgency. The reason for the often marked frequency of BPS is considered but not proven to be a result of the abnormal urge to void.

Present information indicates difficulty in constructing an instrument with adequate sensitivity and specificity to distinguish BPS from vulvodynia and endometriosis in women, BPH and CP/CPPS in men, and OAB and IBS in both sexes. Whether more detailed descriptions would be more discriminatory is unclear. Also unclear is the etiologic relationship of BPS to these pelvic syndromes and to systemic symptom-based syndromes such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and migraine.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 10 South Pine Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA

    John W. Warren M.D.

  2. Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Philip M. Hanno M.D., M.P.H.

Authors
  1. John W. Warren M.D.
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  2. Philip M. Hanno M.D., M.P.H.
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Correspondence to John W. Warren M.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Copenhagen, Department of Urology, Herlev Hospital, Herlev, 2730, Denmark

    Jørgen Nordling

  2. University Hospital Antwerp, Department of Urology, and Antwerp University, Edegem, 2650, Belgium

    Jean Jacques Wyndaele

  3. and Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC,, Departments of Immunology, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, 3141 XW, Netherlands

    Joop P. van de Merwe

  4. Koege Hospital, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 4600, Denmark

    Pierre Bouchelouche

  5. Department Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Urogynecology S.Carlo-IDI, Catholic University, Rome, 00165, Italy

    Mauro Cervigni

  6. Institute of Clinical Sciences, Department of Urology, Sahlgrens Academy at University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, 41345, Sweden

    Magnus Fall

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Warren, J.W., Hanno, P.M. (2013). Symptoms of Bladder Pain Syndrome. In: Nordling, J., Wyndaele, J., van de Merwe, J., Bouchelouche, P., Cervigni, M., Fall, M. (eds) Bladder Pain Syndrome. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6929-3_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6929-3_12

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