Clinical classification of chronic prostatitis: a preliminary investigation

Aim: To propose a practical clinical classification for the chronic prostat itis (CP). Methods: The clinical features and the findings in the expressed prostatic secretion (EPS) in 804 cases of CP patients were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Four types of CP were identified based on the clinical manifestations and the amounts of white blood cells (WBC) and lecithin in E PS. They were the latent type (85 cases; 10.6%), the common type (423 cases ; 52.6%), the persisting type (104 cases; 12.9%), and the active type (192 cases, 23.9%). The therapeutic efficacy for these 4 subtypes were 40.4%, 76 .8%, 30.8% and 37%, respectively; a statistical difference was noticed betw een the common type and the persisting type (P < 0.01). Conclusion: The met hod of classification proposed by the authors may help clinicians in the di agnosis and predicting the prognosis of CP.