Prostatitis: A Review

Prostatitis is defined as infection, inflammation, or pain of the prostate gland and affects approximately 9.3% of men in their lifetime.

Acute bacterial prostatitis consists of a urinary tract infection (UTI) that includes infection of the prostate, typically associated with fever or chills and caused by gram-negative bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, or Pseudomonas, in 80% to 97% of cases. First-line therapy for acute prostatitis is broad-spectrum intravenous or oral antibiotics, such as intravenous piperacillin-tazobactam, ceftriaxone, or oral ciprofloxacin, which has a 92% to 97% success rate when prescribed for 2 to 4 weeks for people with febrile UTI and acute prostatitis. Chronic bacterial prostatitis is defined as a persistent bacterial infection of the prostate, typically presenting as recurrent UTIs from the same strain. Up to 74% of chronic bacterial prostatitis diagnoses are due to gram-negative organisms, such as E coli. First-line therapy for chronic bacterial prostatitis is a minimum 4-week course of levofloxacin or ciprofloxacin. Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) presents as pelvic pain or discomfort for at least 3 months and is associated with urinary symptoms, such as urinary frequency. CP/CPPS is diagnosed when evaluation, including history and physical examination, urine culture, and postvoid residual measurement, does not identify other causes for the symptoms, such as infection, cancer, urinary obstruction, or urinary retention. The National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI) measures symptom severity (scale of 0-43), with a 6-point change considered clinically meaningful. First-line oral therapy for CP/CPPS with urinary symptoms is α-blockers (eg, tamsulosin, alfuzosin; ΔNIH-CPSI score difference vs placebo = -10.8 to -4.8). Other oral therapies are associated with modest changes in NIH-CPSI score compared with placebo, including anti-inflammatory drugs (eg, ibuprofen; ΔNIH-CPSI score difference = -2.5 to -1.7), pregabalin (ΔNIH-CPSI score difference = -2.4), and pollen extract (ΔNIH-CPSI score difference = -2.49).

Prostatitis includes acute bacterial prostatitis, chronic bacterial prostatitis, and CP/CPPS, each of which is diagnosed and treated differently. First-line treatments are broad-spectrum antibiotics for acute bacterial prostatitis (such as piperacillin-tazobactam, ceftriaxone, or ciprofloxacin), at least 4 weeks of fluoroquinolones for chronic bacterial prostatitis, and α-blockers for CP/CPPS with urinary symptoms.