Use of terazosine in patients with chronic pelvic pain syndrome and evaluation by prostatitis symptom score index

Abstract

Purpose: Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndromes (CPPS) affect an important percentage (5–9%) of the patients in urology practice; however there has been no consensus as to how the treatment should be planned in these patients. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the effectiveness of terazosine in the treatment of CPPS patients. Materials and methods: In our outpatient department, between May 1997 and October 1999, 91 patients were diagnosed as CPPS. These patients were first evaluated by Prostatitis Symptom Score Index (PSSI) and then randomized into two treatment groups. The first group received 2 mg/day terazosine (47 patients), and the others received placebo (42 patients). After three months of treatment, 69 patients came back for the control visit (terazosine 39, placebo 30). They were reexamined by PSSI and their results were evaluated by Wilcoxon analysis. Results: Before the treatment PSSI of the 39 patients who received terazosine were 9.61 ± 1.61, after the treatment they were 6.25 ± 1.60. For the placebo group, PSSI values before the treatment were 9.27 ± 1.88, after the treatment they were 8.81 ± 2.66. In the terazosine group, the difference between the pretreatment and post treatment PSSI values was statistically significant (p = 0.0002). In the placebo group, on the other hand, this difference was statistically insignificant (p = 0.701). After the treatment, the difference between the terazosine and placebo groups was also statistically significant (p = 0.001). In the terazosine group (as the recommendation was to take the medication at night) postural hypotension did not develop. Conclusion: Terazosine was effective for the treatment of CPPS. However it was concluded that three months of treatment was insufficient.