Three-Glass Test to Culture Prostate Secretion and Semen of Chronic Prostatitis Patients

Background/Objectives: Currently, the Meares-Stamey 4-glass and the 2-glass tests are used for diagnosing chronic prostatitis subtypes. Both tests include prostatic massage. Failure to extract prostatic secretions-for any reason-can result in a non-diagnostic test. Evidence from everyday practice and studies shows that expressed prostatic secretions are successfully recovered in less than 50% of the examined patients, and an important number of post-massage urine samples are missing prostatic secretions. This study evaluated a simpler test, the 3-glass (pre-ejaculation, ejaculation, and post-ejaculation) test. We compared it with the 4-glass and the 2-glass tests to detect inflammation and bacteria in men with chronic prostatitis symptoms. Methods: The study population included patients with chronic prostatitis symptoms. Subjects were assigned in each visit to undergo either the 4-glass, the 2-glass test, or the 3-glass test. The comparison among the three tests was based on the percentage of bacterial detection, the percentage of false-negative diagnoses, and the percentage of shifts among chronic prostatitis subtypes in the follow-up visits of recurrent patients. Results: A total of 157 patients were finally evaluated. Fifty-nine (59) patients underwent the 4-glass test (Group A), sixty-seven (67) underwent the 3-glass test (Group B), and thirty-one (31) underwent the 2-glass test (Group C). No statistically significant differences in the comparisons above were found. Conclusions: A comparison of the three diagnostic tests showed equivalence of the total ejaculate culture-based 3-glass test to the conventional prostatic secretion culture-based tests.