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Efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic prostatitis-chronic pelvic pain syndrome: a review of the literature

  • Urology - Review
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Abstract

Among one of the four category prostatitis, chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is the disease with unknown etiology and having 90–95% prevalence in prostatitis. CP/CPPS poses adverse psychological effects and weakens the quality of life (QoL) of the patients. Due to its multifactorial etiology, various types of treatment are available with different management efficacies. The conventional treatment like anti-inflammatory medications, antibiotics, and alpha-blockers have given the lack of verified efficacy that has turned the patients to alternative therapies such as acupuncture because of its efficacy, safety, and high compliance. Acupuncture is an alternative management accepted in several countries and is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine for chronic pain. Acupuncture had the effect of immune modulation, anti-inflammatory, and neuromodulation. For chronic prostatitis, acupuncture can improve pain symptoms and can bring better results about National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI), and QoL. This review will discuss the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of CP/CPPS and effect of acupuncture on NIH-CPSI total score and its domains: pain, voiding, and QoL, as well as its effect on different biomarkers of CPPS.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant numbers 30973003; 30901993); and the Administration of TCM of Jiangsu Province (Grant number LZ 11093).

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  1. Junaid Wazir and Rahat Ullah contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Basic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 211198, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Junaid Wazir, Rahat Ullah, Maladho Tanta Diallo, Farhan Ullah Khan, Awais Ullah Ihsan & Xiaohui Zhou

  2. Department of Food Quality and Safety, School of Engineering, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 211198, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Shihong Li

  3. Center for New Drug Safety Evaluation and Research, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 211198, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Md Amir Hossain

  4. Department of Surgery, Nanjing Shuiximen Hospital, Nanjing, 211198, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaohui Zhou

  5. Zhongda Hospital, Affiliated with Southeast University, Nanjing, 210017, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaohui Zhou

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  1. Junaid Wazir
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Wazir, J., Ullah, R., Li, S. et al. Efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic prostatitis-chronic pelvic pain syndrome: a review of the literature. Int Urol Nephrol 51, 2093–2106 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-019-02267-2

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