[Chronic prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndrome: a survey of French urologists].
OBJECTIVE OF THE SURVEY: To determine the usual practice of French urologists in relation to the diagnostic and therapeutic management of chronic prostatitis.


METHODS
A questionnaire on the diagnostic and therapeutic management of chronic prostatitis was sent by mail in June 2003 to 810 urologists, members of the Association Française d'Urologie and working in France.


RESULTS
124 (15%) urologists returned the questionnaire. 61% of these urologists diagnosed less than 11 new cases of chronic prostatitis per year and 65% were not familiar with the new classification proposed in 1995 in the USA by the NIH (National Institutes of Heath) designed to remove this disease from the strict context of the prostate, placing greater emphasis on the concept of pain and introducing the concept of male chronic pelvic pain syndrome. 83% of urologists performed microbiological investigations often or always, but only 10% often or always performed a Meares and Stamey test comprising analysis of prostatic secretions after massage and 68% never performed this test. On the other hand, 76% of urologists ordered a first-stream urine culture, 61% ordered a second-stream urine culture and 76% ordered semen culture. 73% often or always prescribed antibiotics (82% used fluoroquinolones and 43% used the trimethoprim-sulfmethoxazole combination). Even in the absence of microbiological proof of infection, 41% of urologists often or always prescribed antibiotics, 89% sometimes or often prescribed an alpha-blocking agent, 89% sometimes, often or always prescribed a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, 81% sometimes, often or always prescribed analgesics, 52% sometimes or often prescribed anxiolytics, and 66% sometimes or often referred the patient to another specialist.


CONCLUSIONS
This survey shows that chronic prostatitis, now generally referred to as "chronic pelvic pain syndrome", continues to raise diagnostic and therapeutic problems for French urologists.
Delavierre
Dominique
D
Service Urologie-Andrologie, CHR La Source, Orléans, France. delav.uro@wanadoo.fr
D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011472:Prostatitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014572:Urology