The main symptoms of patients with interstitial cystitis are mostly urinary frequency, urinary urgency, pelvic floor pain, as well as abnormal sexual activity function in a significant proportion of patients, and abnormal sexual activity function seriously affects the quality of life of patients. Experts believe that there are various factors that affect the quality of life of patients with interstitial cystitis, and the quality of sexual life of patients is an important factor that affects the mental factors of patients and reduces their quality of life. Although the treatment of interstitial cystitis is multifaceted, it should also focus on addressing the sexual life of the patient. Patients with interstitial cystitis have significantly higher sexual activity survey scores compared to controls, which significantly affects the sexual function of female patients. Significant abnormalities in sexual activity are now recognized in academia as important evidence for the diagnosis of IC. Long-term inflammatory changes in the bladder mucosa can cause painful spasms of the pelvic floor muscles, which in turn can lead to spasms of the vaginal muscles, with subsequent discomfort during sex until the pain becomes unbearable and normal sex cannot be completed, thus causing dissatisfaction in the couple’s life and predisposing them to the vagaries of married life. Therefore, IC patients with sexual discomfort are a sign of disease progression and should not be ignored.
The abnormal sexual life caused by IC is ultimately an outward manifestation of abnormal pelvic floor function, the basic cause of which is spastic pain in the pelvic floor muscles. For patients with interstitial cystitis with combined pelvic floor and bladder pain symptoms, the internationally established and recently introduced sacral neuromodulation (bladder pacemaker) therapy is a good minimally invasive option to treat this clinical problem for patients who have tried conservative treatment and failed. Its short-term efficacy is 70%; -80%; and long-term efficacy is about 60%;, which can largely reduce the patient’s pain, delay bladder contracture, perform bladder enlargement and urinary flow diversion time.
At present, the Department of Urology of Chaoyang Hospital has the largest group of patients with interstitial cystitis and pelvic floor dysfunction in China, and the Urological Control Group has rich clinical experience in various therapies for these diseases, and is also the first and most developed unit in China to carry out sacral nerve electrical stimulation.