The histological prevalence of prostatitis at Potchefstroom Hospital: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: prostatitis is defined as a clinical condition caused by acute or chronic infectious diseases, chronic pelvic pain syndrome, or asymptomatic inflammation of the prostate gland. We conducted a study to determine the prevalence of histological prostatitis in patients with prostatic diseases at Potchefstroom Hospital. Methods: we conducted a cross-sectional study based on the review of histology report from 1 Results: over a total number of 362 patients, the mean age was 69.82±7.9 years. The overall prevalence of prostatitis on histology was 158 (43.65%). Chronic prostatitis was predominant and commonly associated with BPH or PCa in 142 cases (39.23%) on histopathology report, while acute prostatitis was found in 16 patients (4.42%). We further found prostate cancer in 178 patients (49.17%), BPH in 163 (45.03%). The study shows that 41 cases (23.3%) of prostate cancer were associated with prostatitis, and 96 cases (58.9%) of BPH were also associated with prostatitis on histology. The difference was statistically significant p < 0.001. The study revealed that in BPH with prostatitis the median PSA was 15 ng/ml (IQR 9-24), while in BPH without prostatitis the median PSA was 11ng/ml (IQR 7-16). (p < 0.017). This means that prostatitis increases PSA in patients with BPH. However, the presence of prostatitis did not significantly influence the PSA value in patients with prostate cancer. Conclusion: this study showed that close to half of the histology examined had signs of prostatitis. Chronic prostatitis was more frequent on histology done in our sample. BPH was strongly associated with prostatitis. Prostatitis contributed to a higher PSA values in patients with BPH and did not influence the PSA value in PCa.