OBJECTIVE: To compare the results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunologic methods for the detection of nanobacteria (NB) in the expressed prostatic secretions (EPSs) of patients with type-III prostatitis.
METHODS: In total, 150 patients with type-III prostatitis for whom conventional clinical treatment had failed were selected from September 2009 to April 2010. The EPS of each patient was divided into 3 parts, which were used for PCR analysis, indirect immunofluorescence staining (IIFS), and culture and subsequent indirect immunofluorescence staining (CIIFS).
RESULTS: PCR analysis has a higher sensitivity than IIFS for the detection of NB in EPSs. Of 83 CIIFS-positive EPS samples, 79 (95.2%) were positive by PCR. Of 67 EPS samples that were negative by CIIFS, 60 (89.6%) were negative by PCR. The sensitivity of PCR for the detection of NB compared with the CIIFS method was 95.2%, with a specificity of 89.6%. The positive predictive value was 91.9%, and the negative predictive value was 93.8%. A comparative evaluation showed no statistically significant difference between PCR and CIIFS in the detection of NB in EPSs. A strong agreement in the positive and the negative results obtained by PCR and CIIFS for NB detection was found for all EPS samples.
CONCLUSION: PCR analysis has a higher sensitivity than IIFS for NB detection in type-III prostatitis. PCR can detect nanobacterial infection in type-III prostatitis equally well as CIIFS and offers significant advantages for the rapid, simple, and economical detection of nanobacterial infection in type-III prostatitis.
Written by:
Zheng J, Tang J, Yin S, Shen X, Zhou Z. Are you the author?
Department of Urology, Urological Surgery Research Institute, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Reference: Urology. 2014 Sep;84(3):731.e9-731.e13.
doi: 10.1016/j.urology.2014.05.038
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 25168570
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