Clinicopathological Overview of Granulomatous Prostatitis: An Appraisal

Granulomatous prostatitis is a rare inflammatory condition of the prostate. Granulomatous prostatitis is important because, it mimics prostatic carcinoma clinically and hence the diagnosis can be made only by histopathological examination.

To study the histomorphological features and to know the prevalence of granulomatous prostatitis.

Histopathological records of 1,203 prostatic specimens received in the Department of the Pathology over a period of five years (June 2009 - June 2014). Seventeen cases of histopathologically, diagnosed granulomatous prostatitis were retrieved and reterospective data was collected from the patient's records.

Out of 17 cases of granulomatous prostatitis, we encountered 9 cases of non-specific granulomatous prostatitis, 5 cases of xanthogranulomatous prostatitis and 3 cases of specific tubercular prostatitis. The common age ranged from 51-75 years (mean 63 years) with mean PSA level of 15.8ng/ml. Six patients showed focal hypoechoic areas on TRUS and 11 cases revealed hard and fixed nodule on DRE.

Non-specific granulomatous prostatitis is the most common type of granulomatous prostatitis. There is no specific pattern of clinical, biochemical and ultrasound findings that allows the diagnosis of granulomatous prostatitis or differentiates it from prostatic carcinoma. Hence, histomorphological diagnosis is the gold standard in differentiating various prostatic lesions.