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Specific diseases in men are rare. The prostate gland is especially vulnerable. Therefore, the first thing that a urologist conducts when a man with characteristic symptoms contacts him is the diagnosis of prostatitis.

It includes several techniques that allow you to get complete information about the state of this important glandular tissue.

What are the functions of the prostate gland?

The prostate is responsible for the production of a special secret, consisting of 90% water. It contains proteins, phospholipids, spermine amino acids, trace elements – all these elements account for 10%. This secret is necessary to liquefy the semen.

It prevents sperm cells from sticking together. Another of its functions is to support the alkaline balance on the mucous membrane inside the urethra.

With prostatitis, inflammation occurs, the mechanisms of which are as follows:

• bacteria enter the gland with blood;
• penetrate through the urethra;
• infectious agents are carried along with the lymph flow.

A more rapid spread of the inflammatory process is observed with:

• hormonal disruptions;
• circulatory disorders in the veins;
• diabetes mellitus;
• malfunctions of the nervous system;
• osteochondrosis;
• stress;
• mental pathologies;
• body intoxication.

Iron can hurt according to several scenarios, most often the process is acute or chronic.

Prostatitis often develops in men between the ages of 25 and 30. At this age, it is necessary to start visiting a urologist in order to notice the pathology at an early stage, when its signs will not yet appear.

Reasons for the development of prostatitis

Inflammation of the prostate is caused by several factors acting simultaneously. The risk group includes men who have encountered them.

1. An inflammatory reaction is caused by sexually transmitted diseases that are untreated or are hidden. Prostatitis can be their complication.
2. Congestive processes or impaired blood supply in the pelvic organs. It is faced by men who love tight pants or underwear, lead a sedentary lifestyle. Inflammation occurs against the background of overcrowding of the gland with blood, squeezing its tissues.
3. Hypothermia, causing a decrease in the activity of immune cells.
4. Excessive release into the blood of hormones necessary for the reproductive system.
5. Reduced immunity after viral diseases, stress or physical overwork.
6. Muscle dysfunction during urination.
7. Prolonged abstinence from sexual intercourse, interruption of sexual intercourse or its artificial extension.

This leads to the fact that the secret produced by the prostate is not excreted from the body or leaves it partially, that is, the organ does not work properly. Sexual dysfunction is one of the main causes of prostatitis, and this has been scientifically proven.

You can get sick if several factors act simultaneously. At the appointment with the urologist, you need to find out which of these reasons led to the development of inflammation. This will allow you to quickly diagnose prostatitis, prevent its complications and choose the right treatment.

General information about the diagnosis of prostatitis

Men need to contact a urologist for regular preventive examinations. Usually, only boys of school age or young men in front of the military registration and enlistment office go to receptions. The reason for sending an appointment to a urologist for the diagnosis of prostatitis may be the symptoms observed in men:

• erectile dysfunction, infertility;
• violations of the process of excretion of urine (intermittent or weak stream, residual urine, frequent urges, delays, involuntary emptying of the bladder);
• pain in the groin, especially after prolonged sitting;
• decreased libido, failure in sexual intercourse.

Since 1995, a single examination standard has been adopted, which is called the prostatitis test. It includes:

• microscopic analysis of the substance obtained during rectal massage;
• complex diagnostics of inflammations of the lower urinary tract.

These two types of examinations are laboratory, in both cases they take material for analysis. They allow you to make a diagnosis, but to find the cause of prostatitis, you will need to conduct a more thorough diagnosis.

In reproductive age, patients most often turn to doctors when they are threatened by the army or about infertility. In 40% of husbands who are unable to conceive a child, chronic prostatitis is found after diagnosis.

What action does the doctor take?

How to recognize prostatitis among other diseases?

1. The first trip to the urologist begins with the collection of anamnesis and sending for general tests.
2. Before determining prostatitis, the doctor carefully examines the results of the diagnosis.
3. If deviations characteristic of the inflammatory process are found in them, then a more detailed examination is prescribed. Usually these are instrumental methods.

The examination is aimed at confirming the diagnosis, identifying its causes and detecting complications. Diagnosis may include additional research methods if a man needs to determine the cause of infertility. A urologist or andrologist can prescribe the necessary medical manipulations for making a diagnosis.

Collection of anamnesis

The effectiveness of treatment depends on the accuracy of the anamnesis. The patient needs to be prepared to answer questions honestly. The doctor needs to know:

• how long ago the symptoms started;
• the sequence of occurrence of signs of pathology (try to remember all the details);
• whether there were cases of infection with sexually transmitted pathologies;
• lifestyle: frequency of sports activities, working conditions, nutrition;
• quality and regularity of sexual contacts;
• Have you previously been diagnosed with prostatitis?
• whether there is a permanent sexual partner (whether he had cases of infection with venereal pathologies, whether treatment was carried out);
• if there are chronic diseases of the cardiovascular system, pelvis;
• what infectious diseases the man had earlier.

Clinics use ready-made questionnaires to collect anamnesis. This is very helpful in diagnosing prostatitis. With this method, the patient does not need to speak out loud on uncomfortable topics, it is enough to fill out a questionnaire.

It is processed using a computer, giving points to the answers, which helps to quickly recognize abnormalities in the functioning of the organs of the genitourinary system: cystitis, inflammation of the prostate, pyelonephritis, venereal and other pathologies.

Proctological examination

The “gold standard” of prostatitis examinations includes a rectal examination of the prostate. His doctor conducts his own, at the first or second appointment. This is not the most pleasant study, but it allows you to refine the diagnosis, get more data about the prostate organ:

• set its dimensions;
• determine inflammation by soreness during palpation;
• swelling, compaction, glandular tissue consistency.

Every doctor knows how to check the prostate in men. He does it by feel. It is located so that a wound finger in the anus can grope for it. If the patient is in pain, discomfort radiates to the groin, coccyx or penis – this is one of the clear signs of acute or chronic inflammation of the prostate.

Before palpation, you need to relax and make a microclyster. In a healthy man, palpation should take place without discomfort.

Laboratory methods

For laboratory diagnosis of prostatitis, medical staff will need to have samples of body fluids. There are several types of tests that can detect prostatitis and its complications:

1. A swab from the urethra is taken by the urologist during the appointment. It is examined to detect venereal pathologies and pathogenic microflora.
   1. Before the delivery of the material, you need to refrain from urinating (you will have to endure about 3 hours).
   2. The resulting material is subjected to study by PCR or bakposev .
   3. The material is taken from the urethra, for this the swab is immersed into it by 3-4 centimeters. During the day, pain during urination is possible.
2. Prostate smear. Taken during rectal diagnostics.
   1. The doctor does a massage of the prostate, which leads to the release of the secret and its evacuation through the penis.
   2. If leukocytes are found during the study, this is a sign of an inflammatory process, bacteria will help to establish its cause.
3. Bacterial culture and urinalysis.
   1. In patients with prostatitis, deviations from the norm are found in the material sample:
      • more than 5 units of leukocytes,
      • erythrocytes,
      • protein.
   2. Urine is examined by a multiparametric method – all its properties are determined, including color and smell.
   3. If a smear from the urethra did not give a clear clinical picture, the urine is sent for bacterial culture. The decoding of this analysis can be carried out only after 7-16 days.
      1. For him, you will need to collect urine for one selection in three containers (separately the initial, middle, final portions).
      1. This will show if the pathogenic microflora will detect in which part of the urinary tract the center of its reproduction. Usually with prostatitis, bacteria are found in 2 and 3 portions of the material.
4. A semen analysis will determine how depressed a man’s sexual function is. Significant indications will be the physicochemical parameters of the seminal fluid, the properties of spermatozoa. Usually , a spermogram is taken during an infertility examination, but it can also help to recognize prostatitis. If there are a lot of sticky spermatozoa in the semen, the gland produces an insufficient amount of secretion.

A blood test to determine the hormonal background of a man, the identification of tumor markers . You need to check for them in order to adjust the course of treatment and clarify the stage of the disease.
Laboratory diagnostics is not always pleasant, but it helps to distinguish inflammation of the prostate from other diseases, determine the nature of the pathology, and identify complications.

You can donate biomaterial for laboratory research in public or private clinics. A full range of laboratory research is done in large laboratories, for example, ” Invitro “.

Instrumental diagnostics

1. There are several ways of instrumental examination of the prostate, which can obtain accurate information about the changes that have occurred in the glandular tissue. Instrumental methods for diagnosing prostatitis allow you to obtain information about the prostate gland and other organs of the small pelvis,
2. If a bladder infection is suspected, cystoscopy is performed. To do this, use a special device, the catheter of which is placed inside the urethra and brought to the bladder. The method helps with differential diagnosis. With it, you can distinguish inflammation in the bladder from those occurring in the prostate.

ultrasound

• One of the best imaging modalities is ultrasound. It is affordable and painless. You can look at the state of the tissue transrectal or through the skin.
• The most indicative method of ultrasound is TRUS. With it, an umbrella is placed in the rectum, visualizing the prostate gland most clearly. This allows you to see any deviations in it.

• The method of general examination of the organs of the abdominal cavity and pelvis is less unpleasant, but it allows you to see abnormalities in the entire genitourinary system.
• Classical ultrasound is used in the diagnosis of cancer and other major pathogenic processes. It allows you to find foci of inflammation of any size.

Tomography

If the doctor still has questions after the diagnosis, he prescribes an MRI, since this research method is the most accurate.

1. The tomograph allows a detailed examination of the gland. With it, you can study all the tissues of the prostate, taking pictures of layered sections. None of the other methods of instrumental research can be compared with the accuracy of this method.
   During the study, not only inflammatory processes in the prostate are detected. With its help, you can detect an adenoma, a malignant tumor, abnormalities in the work of the seminal or lymph nodes.

Most often, MRI is used in the diagnosis of cancer or before surgery. Tomography allows you to detect the focus of inflammation, to establish its size. The study provides important information needed by the surgeon.

Additional diagnostic methods

A number of medical manipulations, which are used less frequently, help to clarify the diagnosis. They do not reveal the disease, but allow you to get a more complete diagnosis of the course of prostatitis. Their rare use is due to the complexity of such procedures.

1. Urethral radiography is an X-ray examination in which a contrast agent is injected into the urethra and bladder. Identifies disorders that occur against the background of inflammation of the prostate.
2. A biopsy is a study of a piece of tissue necessary to detect pathological cells. Often used to diagnose cancer or adenoma.
3. Uroflowmetry – detects urination disorders. Allows you to get detailed information about the rate of excretion of urine, its pressure inside the excretion pathways.
4. Blood test for prostate specific agent (PSA). This test is usually given to monitor the progress of treatment. At the time of examination, this analysis does not allow distinguishing other diseases of the glandular tissue from prostatitis. It is impossible to determine a simple inflammation, adenoma or oncology on it.

• Some diagnostic methods are uncomfortable, but they allow you to find the exact cause of the inflammatory process that occurs in the prostate gland.
• Usually, doctors limit themselves to express methods in order to confirm the diagnosis and detect the stage of pathology with minimal discomfort.
• A more complete examination is used when the nature of the onset of the disease or the degree of its action is unclear.

How to detect prostatitis yourself?

Patients are interested in how to diagnose prostatitis at home. Independent methods of examination and testing do not exist. You can observe how the body works. Alarm symptoms:

• frequent and painful urge to urinate, tormenting a man for a long time;
• discomfort in the coccyx, groin, genitals;
• painful bowel movements;
• violation of potency;
• difficulty in excreting urine.

How to treat prostatitis?

Based on the data obtained during the examination, the doctor prescribes a course of therapy.

1. First, the inflammatory process is tried to be stopped by conservative methods. For this, drugs from the groups are used:
   • alpha blockers ;
   • antibiotics (cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones , penicillins, aminoglycosides);
   • hormonal;
   • non-steroidal anti-inflammatory.
2. Additionally, the disease can be treated with means based on plant components. They belong to the group of biologically active additives.
3. In addition to medicines, physiotherapy, exercises from the course of physiotherapy exercises and prostate massage are acceptable.