Overview
For women in St John's Wood, Maida Vale, Marylebone, and Hampstead who have lived with chronic bladder pain.Read moreShow less
Sometimes for years, through multiple courses of antibiotics and antimuscarinics that made no difference — the diagnosis of interstitial cystitis is both a relief and a starting point. It is a relief because it validates years of real physical suffering that has been dismissed or mismanaged. It is a starting point because IC is a chronic condition requiring long-term specialist management. Platinum Medical Centre on Lodge Road NW8, 3 minutes from St John's Wood Underground, provides both: the diagnostic cystoscopy with hydrodistension that confirms IC, and the complete treatment programme — intravesical instillations, oral medications, and Botox injection for refractory cases — coordinated by Dr. Harshawardhan Godbole FRCS, Cancer Lead at North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust.
What to know
Private Chronic Bladder Conditions Treatment at Platinum Medical Centre, NW8
Chronic bladder conditions include interstitial cystitis (IC)/painful bladder syndrome (PBS), radiation cystitis, and chemical cystitis.Read moreShow less
IC presents with bladder pain increasing as the bladder fills and relieved by voiding, urgency, frequency, and nocturia — in the absence of infection or identifiable pathology. Cystoscopy with hydrodistension and bladder biopsy confirms IC. Treatment: intravesical instillations (hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulphate, DMSO), oral pentosan polysulphate, and botulinum toxin injection for refractory cases. Bladder cancer must be excluded by cystoscopy before IC diagnosis is established. Dr. Godbole is Cancer Lead at North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust.
Second Opinion IC Assessment at Platinum Medical Centre
A specific patient group at Platinum Medical Centre NW8 consists of women who have received an IC diagnosis elsewhere.Read moreShow less
Often privately or overseas — and seek an independent second opinion on their diagnosis and treatment plan. Common reasons include: suspicion that IC was diagnosed without adequate cystoscopic confirmation; inadequate response to instillation therapy raising doubts about the diagnosis; and concern that a concurrent condition (bladder cancer, endometriosis, or OAB) has been missed. Dr. Godbole's second opinion IC assessment at Platinum Medical Centre includes independent review of any prior cystoscopy findings, re-cystoscopy where the original investigation is questionable, and a revised treatment plan where the original approach is not evidence-based.
IC Management in Professionally Active Women — The NW8 Clinical Context
Women in St John's Wood and Maida Vale with IC include many who are professionally active.Read moreShow less
Lawyers, doctors, executives — for whom bladder pain that increases through a working day, or urgency that requires leaving meetings, has specific professional consequences. The IC treatment programme at Platinum Medical Centre is structured around professional schedules: instillation appointments are scheduled at times that minimise professional disruption, and the treatment plan's timeline and expectations are communicated with the precision that professional patients require for planning purposes.
Travel and Parking Guide – Platinum Medical Centre
15–17 Lodge Road, St John's Wood NW8 7JA.Read moreShow less
Underground: St John's Wood (Jubilee Line), 3 minutes walk. From Baker Street: 2 stops. From Bond Street: 1 stop. Metered parking on Lodge Road; NCP at Clarence Gate.
Why Platinum
St John's Wood and Maida Vale patients choose Platinum Medical Centre for IC management because St John's Wood Underground is 3 minutes walk.Read moreShow less
The most accessible private IC specialist in Central London — and because the management programme is structured around professional schedules.
Second opinion IC assessments at Platinum Medical Centre.Read moreShow less
Including independent cystoscopy review and revised treatment planning — specifically address the diagnostic and treatment uncertainty that some IC patients carry from prior management elsewhere.
Dr. Godbole's Cancer Lead expertise ensures that bladder cancer is explicitly excluded at every IC assessment at Platinum Medical Centre.Read moreShow less
A mandatory clinical step that is not always performed before IC diagnosis is applied in primary care or non-specialist settings.
Nearby areas
St John's WoodMaida ValeRegent's ParkMaryleboneHampsteadSwiss Cottage
Platinum Medical Centre serves IC and chronic bladder condition patients from St John's Wood, Maida Vale, Marylebone, Primrose Hill, Swiss Cottage, Hampstead, Kilburn, and internationally from Central London hotels and serviced apartments.Read moreShow less
The Jubilee Line provides access from Canary Wharf, Westminster, and Heathrow.
Patient reviews
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Questions
Can I get a second opinion on my interstitial cystitis diagnosis and treatment at Platinum Medical Centre?
Yes. Dr. Godbole provides independent IC second opinion assessments at Platinum Medical Centre. This includes review of prior cystoscopy reports and biopsy histopathology, re-cystoscopy where the original investigation was not performed under anaesthesia or did not include hydrodistension, and an independent treatment plan. Many patients who received an IC diagnosis based on symptoms alone — without cystoscopic confirmation — benefit from this independent assessment. Call +44 (0)7884 183968 to arrange.
I am an international patient with IC managed in my home country — can I continue treatment at Platinum Medical Centre while in London?
Yes. Dr. Godbole's team at Platinum Medical Centre can review your IC diagnosis from overseas — including prior cystoscopy and biopsy reports — and arrange continuation or modification of your intravesical instillation programme during your London residence. A written treatment summary is provided for sharing with your home country urologist. Call +44 (0)7884 183968 to discuss your specific situation.
How does Platinum Medical Centre distinguish IC from OAB when symptoms overlap?
The key clinical distinction: IC produces bladder pain that increases as the bladder fills and is relieved by voiding; OAB produces urgency without the filling-related pain pattern. Antimuscarinics reduce OAB urgency but have limited effect on IC bladder pain. Intravesical instillations targeting the GAG layer improve IC but not pure OAB. The definitive distinction is cystoscopy with hydrodistension — which confirms IC by bladder wall changes — and urodynamics which confirms detrusor overactivity in OAB without IC. At Platinum Medical Centre, both investigations are arranged where the clinical picture is ambiguous.
Can IC get worse over time without treatment, and what are the consequences of leaving it untreated?
Yes. Untreated IC can produce progressive bladder wall changes — fibrosis, reduced bladder capacity, and contracted bladder — particularly in patients with Hunner's ulcer IC. Contracted bladder eventually requires surgical management including bladder augmentation or cystectomy in the most severe cases. Early and appropriate treatment with intravesical instillations prevents this progression in most patients. The urgency of establishing the correct diagnosis — and starting appropriate treatment — is clinical, not merely symptomatic.
What is the ESSIC classification of IC and how does it affect treatment at Platinum Medical Centre?
The European Society for the Study of IC (ESSIC) classification categorises IC by cystoscopic and histological findings: Type 1 (no cystoscopic or histological abnormality), Type 2 (glomerulations without histological IC changes), Type 3A (glomerulations with non-specific histological changes), Type 3B (Hunner's ulcers with or without glomerulations). Hunner's ulcer IC (Type 3B) responds best to fulguration and triamcinolone injection; non-Hunner's IC responds to GAG-layer instillations. At Platinum Medical Centre, Dr. Godbole's cystoscopy with hydrodistension assigns the ESSIC type and selects the most appropriate treatment for that specific IC subtype.
