An interesting study...

[Sleeper Service]

Retrospective review of clinical practice in chronic pelvic pain syndrome i.e. category III chronic prostatitis at two hospital sites over five years 2000-2005 (an audit)

"All category III chronic prostatitis cases in two hospital sites were retrospectively reviewed from the year 2000 until 2005. The mean age of the patients was 38.7 years. Of these, 56.6% were St Bartholomew's Genitourinary Medicine Department patients and 43.5% were Southend Genitourinary Medicine Clinic patients. We observed that 33.1% of these had at least one transrectal ultrasound of the prostate. The commonest abnormal findings in transrectal ultrasounds of the prostate of the series were focal calcification (16.2%), calculi (9.3%) and inflammatory changes (5.4%). Of this series, 35% were lost to follow-up. The vast majority of the remainder got better over periods ranging from approximately two weeks to approximately three years."

This seems to tie in with the experience of most people on the boards. What is less clear is the methodology used to improve symptoms or, indeed, how much they improved. However, on looking at the publishers site they have the section:

"Keywords: CATEGORY III PROSTATITIS; REVIEW; AUDIT; MULTIMODAL THERAPY; QUERCETIN; CHRONIC PELVIC PAIN; MALE; RETROSPECTIVE PROSTATITIS"

which suggests that - again as this board has been saying for years - a multimodal approach is best. It is also interesting that Quercetin is specifically mentioned.

Finally, there is also the question of the 35% lost to follow up - was this because they got better or did they just give up in disgust?

I may get the full article to explore this further.

[carld]

I feel most likely those that did not follow up got better. My thought is some men come down with an inflamed prostate for what ever reason and get better after a few weeks. Maybe these type of men are not prown to anxiety and just get better.

[Sleeper Service]

Yes, I tend to agree with this. What would interest me is what it took for some people to get better - i.e. what treatments, what disciplines, etc.

I think some people will get better just by the passage of time, however it seems that others need to follow a particular course of treatment - SP, Quercetin, Elavil, WIT, dietary considerations, etc - or they will never get there. We read of people who have suffered for 20 years who try Q or SP and are cured by it for example, and that's where the tragedy lies: there are probably thousands if not millions of men out there who continue to suffer because they haven't been educated on how to improve their condition.

The fact that the study intimates the hospitals in question use multimodal therapy and newer treatments like quercetin suggests to me that the reasons their patients get better is because they are willing to try unorthodox approaches instead of just pumping people full of useless and wasteful antibiotics.

And that's where the real horror lies: How many men suffer for years because their medical practicioners don't keep up with the times? That's why boards like this - heck, this board alone as there aren't any others like it - save lives.

Tonight I'm going to donate to keep it going. Stuff like this just makes me realise how lost we would be without the site.

[carld]

:thumbup: yes on that. This site saved me. It's pivital that members as they can, contribute to Mark's great work keeping this forum going.

Cheers