AMELIORATIVE EFFECT OF ALLOPURINOL ON NONBACTERIAL PROSTATITIS - A PARALLEL DOUBLE-BLIND CONTROLLED-STUDY

Purpose: Nonbacterial prostatitis is a common problem in young men. It is a disease that is often recurrent and each episode lasts for sever al months. Different causative mechanisms of the disease have been dis cussed, including identified and unidentified microorganisms, stone fo rmation and psychological factors. We have demonstrated in a previous study that urinary reflux (as shown by a high creatinine concentration in prostatic fluid) occurs to a varying extent into the prostatic duc ts, and this reflux has been related to prostatic pain and urate conce ntration in expressed prostatic secretion. Materials and Methods: We p erformed a parallel double-blind controlled study of the objective and subjective effects of allopurinol on patients with nonbacterial prost atitis. Twenty patients received placebo, 18 received 300 mg. allopuri nol daily and 16 received 600 mg. allopurinol daily for 240 days. All patients began medication at the same time regardless of whether the d isease was in an active state. No side effects were noted in the treat ment groups. Results: Significant effects were noted on the concentrat ions of serum urate, urine urate, expressed, prostatic secretion urate , expressed prostatic secretion xanthine and subjective discomfort. Co nclusions: Allopurinol has a significant, positive effect on nonbacter ial prostatitis. It is safe and worthy of trial for at least a S-month period at each episode to relieve the symptoms of nonbacterial prosta titis.