Non-bacterial chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) - "Prostatitis" - is a condition that involves the prostate, bladder and pelvic floor. Prostatitis can cause many symptoms, including a frequent and urgent need to urinate, pain or burning when urinating, pelvic pain, groin and low back pain and pain in the penis, testicles or other sites in the pelvic area. The prostate may swell, causing a less forceful urine stream.
Men may also complain of pain during or after ejaculation, pain during sexual intercourse, inability to get an erection and decreased interest in intercourse.
Prostatitis can affect men of any age and it is the most common urological disorder in men over the age of 50 and the third most common disorder in men younger than 50.
Eight percent of visits to Urologists in US are for Prostatitis complains.
According to Medtech Insight:
"…prostatitis syndrome is expected to remain a major clinical challenge. Anywhere from 15% to 50% of the 8 million prostatitis patients in the U.S. are refractory to standard therapy or achieve only partial symptomatic relief. New theories of etiology of prostatitis syndrome are leading to new treatment approaches, including office-based minimally invasive thermal therapies……"
The etiology of Prostatitis is not clear and there are suggestions it is painful bladder syndrome in many cases or pelvic myoneuropathy and in the words of Dr. C. Nickel the editor of Textbook of Prostatitis:
"…. We are becoming more and more convinced that prostatitis may not only be a prostate problem but a pelvic floor / pelvic problem. Some patients seem to get better just by sitting in hot water or sitting on a hot water bottle”.
Thermal-treatments for Prostatitis with different technologies and different protocols like transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT) and water induced thermotherapy (WIT) have proved to be beneficial, at least with one year follow-up.
One year follow-up results of TUMT and WIT:
|
TUMT |
|
WIT |
|
Treatment temperature |
ablative |
|
non-ablative |
|
#Patients |
39 |
|
30 |
|
Total NIH-CPSI scores |
-51% |
|
-55% |
|
Pain scores |
-60% |
|
-58% |
|
Urinary scores |
-34% |
|
-46% |
|
Quality of life scores |
-47% |
|
-50% |
|
Post-treatment catheter |
7.8 Days |
|
0 |
DuoThermia