Trans-MAPP II Study of Urologic Chronic Pelvin Pain

Urological Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndromes (UCPPS) are characterized by pelvic pain with concurrent urinary symptoms. Broadly, UCPPS comprise Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder SyndromeBladder Pain Syndrome (IC/BPS) in men and women, and Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS) in men. IC is a debilitating bladder disorder characterized by urinary urgency, frequency, and pain. The presentation of symptoms can be quite variable among patients, suggesting that IC is a multi-factorial syndrome with several proposed etiologies, some of which may be interrelated.1 BPS as defined by the International Continence Society, is "the complaint of suprapubic pain related to bladder filling, accompanied by other symptoms, such as increased daytime and night-time frequency, in the absence of proven urinary infection or other obvious pathology."2 BPS is a clinical description of disease based on the patient's symptoms, and does not depend on urodynamic or cystoscopic findings. These symptoms may be related to IC, although diagnostic criteria are still lacking for this entity, and the relationship between BPS and IC is not clear. After the initiation phase for the MAPP SPS Study, it became clear that many of the hypotheses being proposed required well-characterized healthy "normal" controls that lack urologic pain as well as other study related symptoms/conditions. This second phase is enriched with pre-defined subgroups and a longer follow-up period which will allow further investigation of clinical and biologic factors associated with worsening and/or improvement of reported urinary and non-urinary symptoms.