Transurethral needle ablation for chronic nonbacterial prostatitis.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the efficacy of transurethral needle ablation (TUNA) of the prostate for treating chronic nonbacterial prostatitis unresponsive to conservative therapies.


METHODS
Forty-two patients (mean age 38.5 years, range 25-52) with nonbacterial prostatitis in whom clinical management was unsuccessful in relieving the symptoms or signs of prostatitis were treated using TUNA. All patients had a high leukocyte count (> 15 per high-power field) in expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) with no bacterial growth in either urine or prostatic secretion cultures. Before TUNA all patients were evaluated using a symptom score, satisfaction score (quality of life) and an examination of prostatic secretions. All patients were reassessed using the same variables 1 and 3 months after TUNA. Of the 42 patients, 10 had their semen analysed before and 3 months after treatment.


RESULTS
The mean (sd) symptom and satisfaction scores improved significantly, from 11.02 (2.90) to 5.00 (2.61) and from 4.84 (0.57) to 1.26 (1.18), respectively, 3 months after TUNA (both P < 0.05). Of the 42 patients, 30 (71%) had normal EPS results within 3 months of TUNA. Also, of 37 patients with high leukocyte counts (> 100 per high-power field) before TUNA, 26 (70%) had normal EPS results within 3 months afterward, and 29 (78%) had a satisfaction score of < 3 points.


CONCLUSIONS
TUNA may be a possible treatment option for patients with chronic nonbacterial prostatitis that is unresponsive to conservative therapies. A long-term follow-up and randomized studies are needed to confirm the efficacy of the TUNA against intractable chronic prostatitis.
Lee
K C
KC
Department of Urology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Jung
P B
PB
Park
H S
HS
Whang
J H
JH
Lee
J G
JG
D000328:Adult; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009339:Needles; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011472:Prostatitis / Q000601:surgery*