IC Disease

Over my years of blogging about illnesses like IC Disease, one question I am commonly asked - “Is there more than one type of Interstitial Cystitis?”  IC Disease is thought to be a multifactorial syndrome rather than a single disease and may have more than one cause. It may be that what causes Interstitial Cystitis in one patient may not be the same cause in another patient.

In answer to the question posed in the title of this post, there are two types of Interstitial Cystitis that we currently know about.  These are:

• Ulcerative
• Non-ulcerative

People who have ulcerative IC make up about 5% - 10% of all Interstitial Cystitis patients.  This is the form of IC that I have.  It figures I would be in the least likely category!  Just my luck!  A person is diagnosed with ulcerative IC when Hunner’s ulcers are found when they undergo a cystocopy.  

Non-ulcerative IC is when there are no Hunner’s ulcers found during a cystocopy - just the classic pinpoint hemorrhages are found.  This is the case in 90% - 95% of all IC patients.

While treatment for both types of IC are basically the same, it is believed that laser surgery may better benefit the ulcerative IC patients. Researchers are currently investigating whether ulcerative IC and non-ulcerative IC are two separate disease entities. Researchers are trying to classify Interstitial Cystitis into further subtypes that would help to achieve more appropriate diagnostic methods as well as treatment options.

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