Impact of Prostatitis NIH IIIB (Prostatodynia) on Ejaculate Parameters
Introduction
Prostatitis is the most common urologic diagnosis in men younger than 50 years and represents 8% of urology office visits [1]. Male infertility is also a common condition affecting 7.5% of men in North America, without identification of a correctable cause in close to 50% of these men [2]. The relations between fertility and prostatitis remain obscure. There are several studies on semen quality of men who presented with chronic prostatitis symptoms [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], but some of these lack exact classification criteria, control groups or have incomplete spermiogram data.
Section snippets
Material and methods
Consecutive prospective fertility data of 30 patients with prostatitis NIH IIIB were analysed. None of the subjects had been referred for infertility investigation. Diagnosis of chronic symptomatic prostatitis was accepted in case of a history of 3 months or more of pelvic or genital pain, or both, associated with voiding and/or sexual dysfunction and a painful digital rectal examination of the prostate. First voided volume, midstream urine, expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) and urine after
Results
The prostatitis and the age-matched asymptomatic control group (mean age 41 (range 22–66) versus 42 (range 22–66) years, p=0.74) differed significantly in terms of ejaculate volume, motility and fructose concentration. For the remaining parameters no statistically significant difference was found (Table 1). An azoospermia was present in 3 patients (10%) of the prostatitis group versus none of the control group. Duration of prostatitis symptoms did not correlate with sperm parameters (for sperm
Discussion
Aetiology, evaluation and therapy of chronic prostatitis remain clinical problems [12]. Patients are treated usually by costly and often unsuccessful antibiotic cycles which have attendant risks and side effects. These patients typically consult multiple urologists and often claim psychological problems including sexual dysfunction and impotence [13]. While recent studies showed significant immunological changes in the ejaculate of patients with abacterial, noninflammatory chronic prostatitis
Conclusions
Patients with a chronic non-bacterial, noninflammatory Prostatitis (NIH IIIB) have changes in their ejaculate with a reduction of motility and a reduced fructose concentration. This supports a somatic aetiology of the chronic pelvic pain syndrome.
Acknowledgements
Marika Borsos, technician, for her excellent support.
References (15)
- et al.
How common is prostatitis? A national survey of physician visits
J. Urol.
(1998) - et al.
Medical treatment of idiopathic infertility
Urol. Clin. North Am.
(1987) - et al.
Reduced semen quality caused by chronic abacterial prostatitis: an enigma or reality?
Fertil. Steril.
(1994) - et al.
Sperm quality in men with chronic abacterial prostatovesiculitis verified by rectal ultrasonography
Urology
(1991) - et al.
Seminal oxidative stress in patients with chronic prostatitis
Urology
(2000) - et al.
The National Institutes of Health chronic prostatitis symptom index: development and validation of a new outcome measure. Chronic Prostatitis Collaborative Research Network
J. Urol.
(1999) - et al.
Prolongation and improvement of prostasome promotive effect on sperm forward motility
Eur. J. Obstet. Gynecol. Reprod. Biol.
(1995)
Cited by (24)
Organic mineral supplementation on differential protein profile of Osmanabadi bucks (Capra hircus)
2021, Reproductive BiologyCitation Excerpt :The concentration of Zn is higher in seminal plasma fluid and influences spermatozoa morphology by stabilizing the lipid stability and spermatozoa membrane [4]. Chronic prostatitis in infertile males has shown the importance of Zn in preserving the spermatozoa motility and its role in the prostate [5–7]. It regulates the formation of disulfide linkages (SH-Zn-SH) between adjacent protamine molecules, arginine-rich proteins, which stabilize the chromatin structure of spermatozoa [8,9] and also act on regulators of apoptosis [10,11].
Overview on the clinical presentation and indications: Part B
2021, Herbal Medicine in AndrologyAssociation of anti-sperm antibodies with chronic prostatitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis
2016, Journal of Reproductive ImmunologyCitation Excerpt :Several risk factors are involved in pathogenesis of infertility, and ASAs are just one of them. The current studies have confirmed that ASAs (Rossato et al., 2004; Armand et al., 2010, 2011; Dona and Howe, 1987; Patricia et al., 2007) and chronic prostatitis (Engeler et al., 2003; Ausmees et al., 2013; Motrich et al., 2006, 2005; Leib et al., 1994; Henkel et al., 2006) influence a negative effect upon semen parameters. In our study, the ASA-positive rate in chronic prostatitis patients was significantly higher than in the control group, which suggests that chronic prostatitis may have an effect on semen parameters through ASAs, but further studies are required.
Infectious, inflammatory, and immunologic conditions resulting in male infertility
2014, Urologic Clinics of North AmericaCitation Excerpt :Menkveld and colleagues36 performed semen analyses on 34 patients with NIH IIIA prostatitis and 18 with NIH IIIB prostatitis, comparing the results with those of 17 healthy men, and detected a significant decrease in sperm morphology in the prostatitis group. Furthermore, Engeler and colleagues37 prospectively analyzed semen parameters of 30 patients with NIH IIIB prostatitis and compared the results with those of 30 healthy controls and found a significant reduction in sperm motility. In 2003, Ludwig and colleagues38 found no association between prostatic inflammation and standard semen parameters.
The influence of chronic prostatitis in spinal cord injured patients and seminal plasma characteristics: Doubts and proven truths
2012, Revista Internacional de AndrologiaImpact of chronic pelvic pain on sexual functions and fertility
2010, Progres en Urologie