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Use of Acupuncture as a Treatment Method for Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndromes

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Abstract

Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is the most common category of clinical prostatitis. The etiologic factors of CP/CPPS still remain unknown, and standard therapies often fail to achieve sustainable amelioration of symptoms; therefore, various treatment therapies have been approached. Recently, there is increasing evidence that acupuncture could be a safe and effective treatment in managing CP/CPPS. However, acupuncture therapy still is ranked as low-priority treatment, which results from the fact that the studies, mostly reported in nontraditional medical journals, had not employed standard definitions of the condition or validated-outcome parameters, and that the mechanism of acupuncture effects on CP/CPPS remains to be elucidated. In this article, we review the recent clinical research using acupuncture to reveal its clinical utility for CP/CPPS and the possible mechanisms of action. This article could encourage health care providers and urologists to apply acupuncture for managing pains of CP/CPPS with standard treatment.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (No. 2005-0049404).

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No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Integrative Cancer Center, East-West Neo Medical Center, Kyung Hee University, 149 Sangil-dong, Gangdong-Ku, Seoul, 134-727, Republic of Korea

    Sang-Hun Lee

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, College of Asian Medicine, Kyung Hee University, 1 Hoegi-dong, Dongdaemun-Ku, Seoul, 130-702, Republic of Korea

    Byung-Cheol Lee

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  1. Sang-Hun Lee
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Correspondence to Byung-Cheol Lee.

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Lee, SH., Lee, BC. Use of Acupuncture as a Treatment Method for Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndromes. Curr Urol Rep 12, 288–296 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11934-011-0186-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11934-011-0186-0

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