Prostatic calculi influence the antimicrobial efficacy in men with chronic bacterial prostatitis

Abstract

We studied the efficacy of culture-specific antibiotic therapy for chronic bacterial prostatitis (CBP) patients with or without prostatic calculi. This study included 101 patients (21-62 years old) who met the consensus criteria for CBP (National Institutes of Health category II). According to the results of transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS), all patients were divided into two groups: Group 1, CBP with prostatic calculi, n=39; Group 2, CBP without prostatic calculi, n=62. All patients received optimal antimicrobial therapy for 4 weeks and followed up for a minimum of 3 months (range: 3-8 months). In addition to expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) and urine culture, all patients were asked to complete the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI) and the subjective global assessment (SGA). The microbiological eradication rate at the end of treatment were 32/39 (82.1%) and 54/62 (87.1%), while the rates for continued eradication at the end of study were 17/39 (43.6%) and 45/62 (72.6%) in Group 1 and Group 2 (P<0.01), respectively. We observed a decrease in the total NIH-CPSI score median values from 24 to 19 in Group 1 and from 24 to 11 in Group 2. The pain subscore (P<0.01), urinary sunscore (P<0.05) and quality of life (QoL; P<0.05) as well as the total NIH-CPSI score (P<0.01) were significantly improved after antimicrobial treatment in Group 2 compared to Group 1. Response, defined as a decrease of the NIH-CPSI total score by at least 50%, was seen in Group 1 versus Group 2 in 38.5% and 58.1% (P<0.01), respectively. Our results showed that prostatic calculi influence the antimicrobial efficacy in men with CBP. There was a noticeable decrease in the cure rate of CBP patients with prostatic calculi due to relapse after antimicrobial therapy.

Figure 1

Typical TRUS appearance of prostatic calculi of the patients described in this study. TRUS, transrectal ultrasonography.

Figure 2

Clinical response rates after antimicrobial therapy in men with CBP. Group 1: CBP with prostatic calculi; Group 2: CBP without prostatic calculi. NIH-CPSI responders: patients with more than 50% improvement in their total NIH-CPSI score. SGA responders: patients with more than 50% improvement in their SGA. CBP, chronic bacterial prostatitis; NIH-CPSI, National Institute of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index; SGA, subjective global assessment. **P<0.01, vs. Group 1.