Introduction and Objectives
Asymptomatic inflammation as new category of prostatitis could be a predictive factor for lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between asymptomatic prostatitis and clinical markers used to diagnose LUTS in ageing male.
Material and Methods
A total of 132 men (mean age 58.9±6.7 years) undergoing prostate health screening were investigated for prostate-specific symptoms, white blood cells (WBC) in expressed prostatic secretion (EPS), total prostate volume, urinary flow rate and for certain organ-specific, hormonal and biochemical markers. Men with clinical symptoms of inflammation were excluded. Subjects were divided into 3 groups: men without leukocytes in EPS (<0.2×106 WBC/mL, group 1), men with moderate (0.2–1×106 WBC/mL, group 2) and significant (>1×106 WBC/mL, group 3) counts of white blood cells in EPS.
Results
We found statistical difference in PSA level (p ≤ 0.001) and Quality of Life subscore (p = 0.048) for all investigated groups. The PSA showed a positive correlation with us-CRV in serum (r = 0.6, p ≤ 0.001), WBC count in EPS (r = 0.331, p ≤ 0.001) and post-prostatic massage urine (r = 0.235, p = 0.007) and a negative correlation with maximum flow rate (r = −0.231, p = 0.009) for all investigated men. I-PSS irritative subscore showed a positive correlation with WBC count in EPS (r = 0.215, p = 0.014) and negative correlation with maximum flow rate (r = −0.199, p = 0.023).
Conclusions
Our preliminary results suggest that PSA may be one of the clinical markers which could be used for diagnosis of asymptomatic prostatitis in ageing male. However, the future research should directly define the critical level of PSA to diagnose asymptomatic prostatitis as well as examine the treatment effect of NIH IV category prostatitis for LUTS and PSA level in ageing male.
Article info
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
