Dutasteride shows promise for chronic prostatitis

Dutasteride treatment leads to a significant reduction in chronic prostatitis symptom scores in patients with category IIIB disease, a new study has found.

Researchers conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded trial of 50 patients, in whom chronic prostatitis was diagnosed based on pelvic pain lasting for ≥3 months. Dutasteride was given in 0.5-mg once-daily doses for 3 months. The primary outcome of interest was change in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) chronic prostatitis symptom index.

At the follow-up, patients treated with dutasteride saw a significant drop in the mean total NIH symptom score, from 26.5 at baseline to 15.6 after treatment (p<0.001). No such effect was reported for the placebo group (p=0.881). Final total score was significantly lower in the active treatment group (p<0.001).

Dutasteride remained significantly better than placebo in all NIH score domains. For instance, pain subscores significantly decreased after dutasteride treatment (7.8 to 4.2; p<0.001) but not for placebo (6.9 to 6.5; p=0.995). The same was true for urination score (dutasteride: 9.4 to 7.1; p<0.001; placebo: 9.5 to 9.2; p=0.783) and quality of life (dutasteride: 9.3 to 4.3; p<0.001; placebo: 9.6 to 9.6; p=0.564).

For all three NIH subdomains, follow-up scores were significantly better in the dutasteride vs placebo groups.

“We recommend performing further larger studies with longer treatment duration and follow-up to assess the long-term efficacy as well the degree and duration of side effects related to the use of dutasteride in the management of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome,” the researchers said.