[Therapeutic studies on chronic prostatitis--use of AT-2266--Sapporo Clinical Research Group for STD]

AT-2266 is a new antibiotic of the pyridone carboxylic acid class which possesses a broad, low-MIC antibacterial spectrum. Therapeutic studies were carried out on the use of this drug in the treatment of chronic prostatitis, and at the same time a pathological analysis was performed on chronic prostatitis. The subjects were 97 chronic prostatitis patients for whom the prostate fluid had been confirmed to contain at least 30 leukocytes per 400-power magnification field. An analysis of the background factors revealed that 71% of these patients had a past history of gonorrheal or non-gonorrheal urethritis. Culture of the prostate fluid yielded gram-positive cocci (S. epidermidis in most cases) in 44.1% of the patients. E. coli was detected in 3.2% of the patients, while the remaining cases gave negative cultures. In 53.9% of the patients who had not been receiving therapy prior to inclusion in this study, the subjective symptoms consisted of urethral irritation or irritation upon urination. In the other patients, the relationship of the complaints to the disease could not be clearly established. In the patients who had been receiving therapy, the majority did not complain of subjective symptoms. AT-2266 was administered in a daily dosage of 600 mg (in 3 divided doses) for 14 days. The therapeutic efficacy was evaluated. At the end of 7 days of AT-2266 therapy, 15.5% of the previously-untreated group and 8% of the previously-treated group were "excellent" cases, and the efficacy rate was 32.8% and 36%, respectively, when the "good" cases were also included. At the end of the full 14 days of therapy, the corresponding efficacy rates were 21.7% and 17.4%, and 54.3% and 56.5%. Considerable improvement was achieved in the subjective symptoms of urethral irritation and irritation upon urination at the end of 7 days of therapy, and the improvement was even greater following the next 7 days of treatment. With regard to the complaints for which the relationship to the disease could not be clearly established, however, the improvement was not very good: there was not much difference between the results on the 7th and 14th days, and the elimination rate even after 14 days was slightly below 30%. In the previously-untreated patients, improvement in leukocyte count in the prostate fluid to 10 or fewer cells per microscopic field was achieved in 15.6% at 7 days and 21.7% at 14 days. As side effects of AT-2266, mild symptoms were observed to occur in only 1.8% of the patients.