Interstitial cystitis: review of the literature.

Interstitial cystitis is a chronic bladder disease of unknown frequency and unclarified etiology. The condition is often missed and the patients incorrectly treated. The problematic patient is often a woman with a long-lasting urological history, sterile urine, urinary incontinence, dyspareunia or chronic pelvic pain. Here characteristics of 5 patients are described and the literature is reviewed to draw attention to this condition.