Table 1.

Classification of prostatitis accordig to National Institutes of Health

Category	Definition	Description
I	Acute bacterial prostatitis	characterized by sudden fever, perineal and suprapubic pain and voiding symptoms.
		The urine shows signs of a urinary tract infection.
II	Chronic bacterial prostatitis	characterized by symptoms of prostatitis (pain, voiding symptoms) for more than 3 months with recurrent bacterial urinary tract infection.
III	The CPPS	characterized by pain and voiding symptoms for more than 3 months, without detection of bacterial pathogens using standard microbiological methods. The CPPS is divided into two subcategories:
IIIa	The inflammatory CPPS	characterized by a chronic pelvic pain syndrome with signs of prostate inflammation (leukospermia or white blood cells in expressed prostate secretion). The culture of semen, EPS and urine after post-prostatic massage are negative.
IIIb	The noninflammatory CPPS	characterized by a chronic pelvic pain syndrome without signs of prostatic inflammation (see category IIIA).
IV	Asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis	Patients have evidence for prostate inflammation (leukospermia, white blood cells in expressed prostate secretions, positive cultures or inflammation in tissue biopsies) without pelvic pain or voiding symptoms.

CPPS = Chronic pelvic pain syndrome; EPS = espressed prostatic secretion.