Current evidence also suggests the efficacy of  dimethyl sulfoxide and amitryptyline therapy .
Hydroxyzine , intravesical bacille Calmette-Guérin  , and  resiniferatoxin therapy  failed to demonstrate efficacy , but evidence was inconclusive owing to method ological limitations .
Pentosan polysulfate may be modestly beneficial for symptoms of PBS/IC .
There is insufficient evidence for other pharmacologic treatments .
BACKGROUND More than 180 different types of therapy have been used in the treatment and management of  painful bladder syndrome/interstitial cystitis ( PBS/IC ) , yet evidence from clinical trials remains inconclusive .
This study aim ed to evaluate the efficacy of pharmacologic approaches to PBS/IC , to quantify the effect size from r and omized controlled trials , and to begin to inform a clinical consensus of treatment efficacy for PBS/IC .
A quantitatively controlled method to study prospectively interstitial cystitis and demonstrate the efficacy of pentosanpolysulfate.
A r and omized , prospect i ve , double-blind , placebo-controlled study was conducted at 7 clinical centers on 148 patients . Patients received orally either 100 mg . pentosanpolysulfate ( a synthetic polysaccharide ) 3 times per day or a placebo . Of the patients on drug therapy 32 % showed significant improvement compared to 16 % of those on placebo ( p = 0.01 ) . This study provides a model to assess this disease quantitatively in a prospect i ve manner using a method whereby the patients globally assess their symptoms as either worse or improved by 0 , 25 , 50 , 75 or 100 % . Patients on drug therapy also experienced a significant decrease in pain and urgency ( p = 0.04 and 0.01 ) on analogue scales when compared to placebo and also more drug patients showed an average increase of more than 20 ml . in voided volume than did placebo patients ( p = 0.02 ) . All adverse effects were minor , with 7 in the drug group and 10 in the placebo group . The results support the concept that some patients with the interstitial cystitis syndrome may have abnormal bladder surface glycosaminoglycans
Current evidence also suggests the efficacy of  dimethyl sulfoxide and amitryptyline therapy .
Hydroxyzine , intravesical bacille Calmette-Guérin  , and  resiniferatoxin therapy  failed to demonstrate efficacy , but evidence was inconclusive owing to method ological limitations .
Pentosan polysulfate may be modestly beneficial for symptoms of PBS/IC .
There is insufficient evidence for other pharmacologic treatments .
BACKGROUND More than 180 different types of therapy have been used in the treatment and management of  painful bladder syndrome/interstitial cystitis ( PBS/IC ) , yet evidence from clinical trials remains inconclusive .
This study aim ed to evaluate the efficacy of pharmacologic approaches to PBS/IC , to quantify the effect size from r and omized controlled trials , and to begin to inform a clinical consensus of treatment efficacy for PBS/IC .