Loading...
Chronic bacterial and abacterial prostatitis, benign prostatic hypertrophy, and pelvic pain syndrome in men are difficult to diagnose and easily can be confused with one another. Yet, selecting successful treatments for these conditions -- for example, antibiotics or agents to relieve bladder outlet obstruction -- depends at least in part on accurate diagnosis. These researchers systematically reviewed the literature for evidence regarding the accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of abacterial prostatitis (i.e., purulence but no identified infection).
In general, the 19 diagnosis studies and 14 treatment studies identified were small and of low methodologic quality. No reference standard for clinical testing could be identified, althou…