CYSTITIS

Course overview

CYSTITIS REFERS TO INFECTION OF THE LOWER URINARY TRACT, OR MORE SPECIFICALLY, THE URINARY BLADDER. IT MAY BE BROADLY CATEGORIZED AS EITHER UNCOMPLICATED OR COMPLICATED. UNCOMPLICATED CYSTITIS REFERS TO LOWER URINARY TRACT INFECTION (UTI) IN EITHER MEN OR NON-PREGNANT WOMEN WHO ARE OTHERWISE HEALTHY. ACUTE CYSTITIS IS TYPICALLY CAUSED BY A BACTERIAL INFECTION OF THE URINARY BLADDER. COMPLICATED CYSTITIS, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS ASSOCIATED WITH RISK FACTORS THAT INCREASE THE VIRULENCE OF THE INFECTION OR THE POTENTIAL OF FAILING ANTIBIOTIC THERAPY. ACUTE CYSTITIS IS TYPICALLY CAUSED BY A BACTERIAL INFECTION OF THE URINARY BLADDER. WOMEN ARE PARTICULARLY SUSCEPTIBLE DUE TO THE PROXIMITY OF THE RECTUM TO THE URETHRAL MEATUS AS WELL AS THE RELATIVELY SHORT URETHRAL LENGTH IN FEMALES. THIS ACTIVITY REVIEWS THE EVALUATION AND TREATMENT OF CYSTITIS AND DESCRIBES THE ROLE OF THE INTERPROFESSIONAL TEAM IN THE CARE OF PATIENTS WITH THIS CONDITION.