Prostatitis - an inflammatory disease of the prostate gland, which is found mainly in men of mature age. To diagnose prostatitis is often difficult because many of its symptoms resemble those of other diseases, in addition, some patients have symptoms of the disease are expressed very poorly, and they have for a long time did not pay attention to them.

What is the prostate gland

The prostate gland, or prostate - a small gland size of approximately a walnut. It is part of the male reproductive system and is located in front of the rectum and just below the bladder. Besides, the prostate is located around the urethra - channel through which passes urine and semen.

According to the research, in 10-12% of women in a particular age symptoms characteristic of prostatitis, although not all of them go to the doctor.

Types of prostatitis and their symptoms

There are the following types of prostatitis:

• Acute bacterial prostatitis - is the rarest of the four types of prostatitis, moreover, it is a potentially life-threatening. However, it is much easier to diagnose than other types of prostatitis, and in a timely diagnosis and treatment is very effective. Acute bacterial prostatitis is often associated with infections of other areas of the urinary system.

Men suffering from acute bacterial prostatitis often complain of chills, fever, pain in the genital area, unusually frequent urination - especially at night, burning and pain when urinating, pain throughout the body. Urinalysis this disease indicates the presence of white blood cells and bacteria in urine. For treatment of this type of prostatitis used antibiotics such as tetracycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, quinolones, carbenicillin, cefazolin, cephalexin, cephradine, minocycline.

If the patient responds well to treatment, most doctors recommend treatment to continue for three to four weeks. Symptoms may go much earlier, but such a long course of antibiotics to help prevent a recurrence; in some cases, treatment can last more than a month.

If acute bacterial prostatitis caused severe complications such as sepsis, the patient requires hospitalization and treatment shirokospektralnymi antibiotics such as cephalosporin and aminoglycoside.

• Chronic bacterial prostatitis - a fairly common disease, which is often the cause of recurrent urinary tract infections in men. Typically, in such cases, recurrent infections are caused by the same bacterial species. In some patients, chronic bacterial prostatitis causes symptoms such as pain, testicles or penis, and a slight increase in body temperature, and others in between bouts of acute prostatitis symptoms are absent. On examination, the prostate gland may look normal, but urine tests indicate the presence of infection.

Studies in animals have shown that the highest concentration in the prostate tissue is achieved antibiotics such as erythromycin, clindamycin, and trimethoprim. Unfortunately, erythromycin and clindamycin are not sufficiently effective against Gram-negative bacteria, which often are the causative agents of chronic bacterial prostatitis. The antibiotic of first choice in this disease is usually co-trimoxazole (sulfamethoxazole / trimethoprim). Furthermore, there may be used such antibiotics as kabenitsillin, ofloxacin, minocycline, nitrofurantoin.

• Chronic non-bacterial prostatitis. More than 90% of men complaining of symptoms characteristic of prostatitis, chronic nonbacterial qualify prostatitis or chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Some experts believe that this figure may be exaggerated, but no one argues with the fact that this disease is very common.

Patients usually complain of symptoms that occur with other types of prostatitis, for example - back pain Back pain: Causes of chronic low back pain In the testicles and scrotum, pain during ejaculation, pain in the perineum. Often there are problems with urination and potency, as well as the weakening of the libido. As a rule, in patients with chronic non-bacterial prostatitis no recurrent urinary tract infections. Rectal examination usually does not give any results, although some patients may complain of soreness is not the prostate.

Treatment of chronic non-bacterial prostatitis - a difficult task, because the data on the effectiveness of a particular type of therapy is extremely small. Since there is a possibility that the disease may be caused by undetected bacterial infection, patients are often prescribed antibiotics, and during the course of treatment the physician closely monitors the patient's condition changes (if they occur). In such cases, it may be assigned, for example, receiving doxycycline, minocycline or erythromycin for 14 days. To relieve the symptoms of chronic non-bacterial prostatitis can also be used: transurethral microwave thermotherapy, massage the prostate (usually performed three times a week), hot tubs, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

• Asymptomatic prostatitis. This kind of prostatitis, as the name suggests, does not cause any symptoms. As a rule, asymptomatic prostatitis detect when a patient is undergoing tests associated with suspected violations such as infertility or prostate cancer. The main indicator of asymptomatic prostatitis is an increased level of prostate specific antigen (PSA). Typically, the PSA level returns to normal after four to six weeks after the end of a two-week course of antibiotics.