UPDATE - Issue 21 - Spring 2005
Space age prostatitis treatment
While the cause of so-called chronic prostatitis sometimes called chronic pelvic pain syndrome is unclear, it seems that the formation of small calcium stones in the prostate might be the culprit. These may be caused by nanobacteria, discovered by NASA scientists in the 1990s and suspected of being the culprit putting astronauts on long fights at risk of getting kidney stones.
Scientists at the Cleveland Clinic, Florida under Dr Shoske have found that therapy designed to eliminate nanobacteria may alleviate prostatitis symptoms in men who haven't been helped by other treatments.
Shoske's team theorized that elimination of prostatic stones may relieve the prostatitis symptoms. They evaluated the use of a treatment developed to eradicate calcification formed by nanobacteria in a trial involving 15 men. All of them had experienced symptoms for more than nine months despite conventional treatments, and showed signs of prostatic stones on ultrasound.
The daily treatment consisted of tetracycline intended to knock out the nanobacteria, a proprietary supplement that has been shown to help with prostate problems, and a rectal suppository of a compound that binds to calcium and can dissolve stones.
After treatment for three to four months, the average score on a standard prostatitis symptom index had declined from 25.6 to 13.7, with significant reductions in pain and improved quality of life.
The researchers now intend to explore the role of nanobacterial infection as a cause of prostatic stones, and whether these stones are indeed a cause of prostatitis.