[Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic prostatitis]

So far the etiology of chronic prostatitis(CP), particularly chronic nonbacterial prostatitis(NBP) or chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS), remains to be elucidated. According to recent epidemiologic data, the prevalence of CP ranged from 2.5% to 16% of the world population, affecting men of all ages and all ethnic origins. Since 1990s researchers of many countries have carried out largerscaled, deeper and more extensive studies than ever before on the etiology, diagnosis and treatment of the disease, with the sponsorship and coordination of such international institutions as the International Prostatitis Collaborative Network(IPCN), the Chronic Prostatitis Collaborative Research Network of the National Institute of Health (NIH-CPCRN) and so on. The main achievements of recent years include: the etiology of CP/CPPS being a complicated multi-step and multi-factor course, the establishment of the new clinical classification system, the introduction of the National Institute of Health chronic prostatitis symptom index, the new criteria of diagnosis and standardized clinical evaluation, the primary explorations of new treatment methods and medicines, etc. Further investigations suggested are the optimization of clinical classification, the screening and verification of treatment methods and medicines for CP/CPPS, etc.