Comparison of the Efficacy and Safety of Combined Extracorporeal Shock-Wave Therapy (ESWT) with Phytotherapy versus ESWT Alone in Chronic Prostatitis Category IIIB

Abstract Background Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is one of the four categories of chronic prostatitis. It is a prevalent and poorly understood disease. The widespread presence of CPPS is over 90–95% among all the four categories of prostatitis. Objective To compare the efficacy and safety of ESWT combined with Phytotherapy and ESWT alone in treatment of chronic prostatitis category IIIB. Patients and Methods This prospective comparative clinical study (double armed) included 30 patients with clinical diagnosis of CP/CPPS were enrolled in the study. The patients were randomly allocated to either the ESWT plus Phytotherapy group (group A; n = 15) or the ESWT only group (group B; n = 15). A total of eight ESWT treatment sessions, once weekly were administered alone or in combination with Phytotherapy. Each session consisted of 3,000 shock waves. Phytotherapy that contains powder extract of (saw palmetto, tomato, uva ursi, pygeum, pumpkin) 1 capsule twice daily for 8 weeks. The changes in urinary symptoms, pain and quality of life were considered the main outcome measures and were assessed at baseline, after 4 and 8 weeks from the start of treatment, and 2 and 4 months after the end of treatment by National Institutes of Health-developed Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI). Results When we compared both groups of patients at the end of the study as regards Pain, Urination, Qol, and total score of NIH-CPSI, we find a significant improvement in both groups equally, as Independent t-test and Mann-Whitney test showed no significant difference between group A and group B (p > 0.05). Conclusion The study shows that ESWT is an effective and safe treatment modality for CP/CPPS, whether combined with Phytotherapy or not.