Prostatitis: acute and chronic.

Prostatitis, one of the most common urological infections afflicting adult men, has recently been divided into 4 different categories based on the National Institutes of Health consensus classification: acute bacterial prostatitis, chronic bacterial prostatitis, chronic nonbacterial prostatitis and pelvic pain syndrome, and asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis. Most patients with prostatitis are found to have either nonbacterial prostatitis or prostatodynia. Prostatitis poses an international health problem, with epidemiologic studies suggesting a worldwide prevalence of more than 10%. This article reviews current modes of diagnosis and therapy for acute and chronic prostatitis.