3 Tests to Diagnose Interstitial Cystitis

As there is no test has proved to be accurate, doctors hold different opinions about how to diagnose interstitial cystitis. When we are going to the hospital, we are usually asked about our medical history, and to do physical exams and urine tests, which are important to exclude other conditions that might be causing similar symptoms to interstitial cystitis. If there are no other causes of those interstitial cystitis symptoms found, it’s usually confirmed that it is the disease. However, there are still other doctors who believe that more tests are necessary to determine whether the patient has it. 

 

Some doctors use a test called the potassium sensitivity test. Doctors place the solution of potassium and water into the bladder, and then compare the pain and urgency. A person who has IC feels more pain and urgency with the potassium solution than with the water, but patients with normal bladders cannot tell the difference between the two solutions. 

 

Cystoscopy is one test that many doctors use, in which the doctor looks inside the bladder with a cystoscope. This test can rule out other diseases such as cancer. Cystoscopy can be performed in the doctor's office, and a more invasive test can be performed in the operating room. A basic cystoscopic examination is followed by a stretching or distention of the bladder through instilling water under pressure, with which cracks in the bladder in more severe cases can be revealed. If a person has symptoms of IC and the cystoscopy shows bleeding or ulcers, the diagnosis is fairly certain. But most people who have the similar symptoms do not have these bleeding areas, a bladder biopsy is needed, which can rule out other bladder diseases.

 

Urodynamics evaluation, another test that was once considered to be part of the standard IC evaluation, but is no longer believed to be necessary in all cases, which involves filling the bladder with water through a small catheter, and measuring bladder pressures as the bladder fills and empties. If the bladder has a small capacity and pain when being filed, it’s believed it is interstitial cystitis.

 

Even though there is no best way to diagnose the interstitial cystitis so far, one should be suspected as a possible patient if he or she has typical symptoms and a negative urine examination showing no infection or blood. So, it’s necessary to take some anti-inflammatory medicine such as antibiotics or traditional Chinese medicine, diuretic and anti-inflammatory pill, to eliminate inflammation in the bladder to prevent it from getting worse before the disease is confirmed.