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Prostatitis

Prostatitis -- an inflammation or infection of the prostate gland -- affects many young to middle-aged men. Symptoms include painful urination, urinary frequency and urgency, and pain in the lower back and genital area. There are four main types of prostatitis -- some of which improve with antibiotics. However, other forms do not respond to antibiotics and require a different treatment approach.

 

Prostatitis: An Overview

Prostatitis is an inflammation or infection of the prostate gland. It affects at least half of all men at some time in their lives. Having prostatitis does not increase your risk of developing any other prostate disease, such as prostate cancer.
 

Causes of Prostatitis

The cause of prostatitis can vary.  In some cases, prostatitis is caused by a bacterial infection. In these cases, prostatitis treatment involves antibiotics. But the more common forms of prostatitis are not associated with any known infecting organism. Thus, antibiotics are often ineffective in treating the nonbacterial forms of the disease.

 

Types of Prostatitis

The term prostatitis actually encompasses four disorders:
 
  • Acute bacterial prostatitis
  • Chronic bacterial prostatitis
  • Chronic prostatitis or chronic pelvic pain syndrome
  • Asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis.

 

Acute bacterial prostatitis and chronic bacterial prostatitis are relatively uncommon.   Chronic prostatitis is the most common.

 

Symptoms of Prostatitis

Inflammation of the prostate gland causes the symptoms of prostatitis, which include:
 
  • Urinary frequency and urgency
  • Burning or painful urination (dysuria)
  • Pain in the lower back and genital area.
     
Other symptoms can also occur with prostatitis.
 
(Prostatitis Continued: Page 2)
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Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD