The aim of the study was to investigate the histological features of bladder biopsies taken from patients with clinical diagnosis of interstitial cystitis and the enumeration of mast cells per square millimetre in the detrusor muscle biopsies.

Two groups were studied, 7 patients with clinical and cysteoscopic features of interstitial cystitis and 8 patients with chronic non-specific cystitis. Archival material, formalin fixed for 24 h and paraffin embedded tissue was used and studied with H+E, Giemsa and Toluidine blue. The histological findings of the two groups were compared and the number of mast cells / sqrmm was significantly different (15-49 and 1-5) in the two groups.

Keywords: Interstitial cystitis, mast cells, bladder

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Hellenic Archives of Pathology, 1994, 8(3): 147-152