Historical notes

The below is mainly extracted from “Epidemiologic and diagnostic aspects of prostatitis" by A Mehik (1) and "A headache in the pelvis" by Wise and Anderson.

The first "modern" description of prostatitis was made by Verdies in 1838 and later confirmed by Young, Gereghty and Stevens in 1903. Some researchers focused on finding a bacterial cause, while the Freudian lot branded the patients as mentally ill and suffering of anal/rectal psychoses (Cumming and Chittenden, 1938), problems with the "male sexual identity" etc etc. (The usual crap. The unfortunate gut reaction of the medical establishments to not knowing things has a long history of attributing the messenger of bad tidings, i.e. the patient, with being possessed by the devil, although the modern version is usually that the sufferer must be a bed-wetting mental case with severe hypochondria.)

Kretschmer noted already in 1937 that the causes probably were multiple. The first detailed descriptions were presented by Ritter and Lippow in 1938 and by Grant also in 1938. During 1940s and 50ties it was generally believed that the cause was gonococcal infection. By 1957 Campbell noted that non-bacterial causes were common. New technology saw a rise in research during the 60ties and 70ties (especially Meares and Stamey), but the direction was still for bacterial or psychological causes.

The 90ties and the turn of the millennium saw a new flurry of research, especially in the USA and Canada, and interest also started to be directed at neuromuscular causes. The thought that neuromuscular causes may lie behind pelvic pain was not new. Thiele and Shapiro had as early as in the 30ties pointed at this possibility, but it went largely ignored, until Sinaki and Segura in 1979 drew attention to the possibility of pelvic floor tension causing prostatitis.

Most recently the question has been raised if the cause may be immune reaction / HPA axis dysfunction. Several lines of evidence (symptoms and signs) do in my opinion indicate that this is a real possibility, regardless if it is a cause or an effect.

Andra bloggar om CPPS, kroniskt bäckenbottensmärtsyndrom, kronisk abakteriell prostatit, NIHIIIb
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(1) Mehik A. Epidemiological and diagnostical aspects of prostatitis. Doctoral dissertation presented at the University of Oulu (Uleåborg), Oulu University Press 2001