Counting leukocytes in expressed prostatic secretions from patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
The evaluation of WBCs in EPS is recommended for classifying patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) but no agreement has been reached on the optimal method. We sought to determine the relationship between the expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) leukocyte (WBC) count per high-power field (evaluated by a more quantitative wet mount method and the traditional gram-stained smear method used in clinical microbiology laboratories) and the EPS WBC concentration to determine whether quantitative methods are necessary for accurate patient classification.


METHODS
EPS collected from 94 patients with CP/CPPS were evaluated by gram-stained smear, a standardized wet mount, and a hemocytometer method.


RESULTS
The gram-stained smear detected EPS WBCs in 21 (22%) of 94 subjects compared with 78 (83%) by the standardized wet mount and 57 (60%) by the hemocytometer method. The gram-stained EPS WBC count correlated poorly with the WBC concentration by hemocytometer (R(2) = 0.051, P = 0.03). Although the standardized EPS WBC count correlated better with the concentration by hemocytometer, the correlation coefficient remained low (R(2) = 0.244, P <0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
The standardized wet mount proved superior to the gram-stained smear, but both methods lacked precision. Quantitative determination of the EPS WBC concentration by a counting chamber method proved to be the superior evaluation for research studies of CP/CPPS.
Krieger
John N
JN
Department of Urology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 98108-1597, USA.
Ross
Susan O
SO
Deutsch
Leslie A
LA
Fritsche
Thomas R
TR
Riley
Donald E
DE
D001826:Body Fluids / Q000166:cytology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005840:Gentian Violet; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D017699:Pelvic Pain / Q000473:pathology*; D010619:Phenazines; D011467:Prostate / Q000378:metabolism*; D011472:Prostatitis / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013194:Staining and Labeling
D004396:Coloring Agents; C035863:Gram's stain; D010619:Phenazines; D005840:Gentian Violet