Questionnaire survey of urologists and primary care physicians' diagnostic and treatment practices for prostatitis.

Objectives: To establish diagnostic and treatment practices for chronic prostatitis by survey of urologists in Wisconsin and primary care providers in Dane County, Wisconsin.

Methods: All Wisconsin urologists (n = 135) and primary care providers in Dane County, Wisconsin (n = 365) were surveyed by mail with a 10-item questionnaire used to establish diagnostic and treatment practices for prostatitis.

Results: Seventy-eight percent of primary caregivers consider prostatitis to be bacterial in nature, whereas 59% of urologists consider it to be noninfectious. Fewer than 50% of primary care providers consider pain to be other than perineal in the diagnosis. Fewer than 50% of urologists or primary caregivers evaluate expressed prostatic secretions and few primary care providers (11%) use nonantibiotic therapy.

Conclusions: The diagnostic and treatment practices for prostatitis do not follow standard textbook algorithms.