Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a chronic pain syndrome identified by the presence of noninfectious pelvic or perineal pain lasting longer than 3 months. Current diagnoses and treatments for the syndrome solely depend on and target symptoms, respectively. Thus far, the mechanistic disturbances responsible for the pathogenesis of CP/CPPS have remained largely elusive and treatments, and therefore, continue to be ineffective. To move toward successful management and treatment of CP/CPPS, it is necessary to elicit the underlying biological mechanisms responsible for the syndrome. Therefore, a phenotyping system that is able to bridge the gap between current symptom-based diagnosis and future mechanistic approaches to diagnosis and treatment is needed. In this article, we examine current CP/CPPS phenotyping systems, analyze their utility, and make suggestions for changes in clinical approaches to the syndrome that would both promulgate a mechanistic understanding and advance treatment approaches.
Written by:
Mahal BA, Cohen JM, Allsop SA, Moore JB, Bhai SF, Inverso G, Dimitrakoff JD. Are you the author?
Reference: Curr Urol Rep. 2011 Aug;12(4):297-303.
doi: 10.1007/s11934-011-0196-y
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 21533747
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