Partial denervation of bladder was used to treat severe urgency and urge incontinence in women and was first documented in the year 1959 [1]. Over the period of years, Ingleman and Sundeberg documented and advocated the efficacy of this procedure of partial denervation of the urinary bladder through the vaginal route [2, 3]. Cespedes and co workers published the results of the same procedure with minor modifications to treat urge incontinence in women [4, 5]. Rackley and Abdalmalak in their compilation of surgical management of overactive bladder have summarized the various possible denervation techniques of bladder for use in intractable cases [6].

However, in none of the above-mentioned works, have authors mentioned the use of partial denervation for bladder pain syndrome. Over the period of last 30 years, the understanding of this disease entity has gone through a major evolution, with experts around the globe defining the Bladder Pain Syndrome (BPS) as a clearly demarcated entity different from overactive bladder. It has been clearly understood that the frequency and urgency in cases of BPS is primarily due to the pain or discomfort that the patient feels upon filling of bladder, and the fact that patient learns to get relief of pain/discomfort by will fully evacuating the bladder. This is a major deviation from overactive bladder in which the patient willfully is trying to prevent the emptying of bladder. Thus pain/discomfort perceived to be originating from the urinary bladder has now been recognized as pivotal to the definition of Bladder pain syndrome, erstwhile known as interstitial cystitis. Denervation procedures were aimed at reducing the frequency and urgency due to increased detrusor activity unrelated to pain.

Towards the end of last century, it was recognized that the NIDDK criteria for interstitial cystitis were good for research purposes but were found to be restrictive when applied in clinical practice as was documented in the publication by Hanno et al. [7]. In another publication, the International Continence Society expressed the need for segregating painful condition of the bladder from overactive bladder (OAB) [8]. Publication of the proceedings during the international consultation on Interstitial cystitis held in Kyoto, Japan attempted to define the entity of bladder pain as important criteria for diagnosis of Interstitial cystitis [9]. The European society for study of interstitial cystitis clearly defined pain or bladder discomfort perceived to be originating from urinary bladder as the prerequisite for the diagnosis of Bladder Pain Syndrome [10]. These publications indicated that the condition of Bladder pain syndrome was not actually a problem of storage as perceived in OAB, but had pain as the primary reason for urinary frequency.