[Ultrasonic diagnosis of paraprostatitis]

Forty-six patients were investigated by ultrasonography in order to assess the state of the tissues directly adjacent to the prostate in patients with chronic prostatitis. Inflammatory infiltrations in paraprostatic fat, seen as irregularly shaped rarefication foci with a vague outline were detected in 16 (33.3%) and termed as paraprostatitis. The inflammatory infiltration involved seminal vesicles in 56.3% of the patients. The prostate was involved into the infiltration in 62.5% of the cases, while in the remaining 37.5% there was no correlation between the prostate and the paraprostatic fat infiltration. It is concluded that paraprostatitis, both acute and chronic, may be present as an independent condition, or be secondary to chronic prostatitis.