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28 VOL. 8 NO. 1 2006 REVIEWS IN UROLOGY
MEETING REVIEW
Changing Paradigms for Chronic Pelvic Pain
A Report from the Chronic Pelvic Pain/Chronic Prostatitis Scientific Workshop,
October 19–21, 2005, Baltimore, MD
J. Curtis Nickel, MD, FRCSC,* Richard Berger, MD,† Michel Pontari, MD‡
*Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; †University of Washington, Seattle, WA; ‡Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
[Rev Urol. 2006;8(1):28-35]
© 2006 MedReviews, LLC
Key words: Chronic pelvic pain syndrome • Prostatitis • Interstitial cystitis • Pain • Psychosocial aspects of pain •
Alternative treatments • Biopsychosocial treatment model
The field of prostatitis research is
rapidly changing focus. It is
shifting away from the biomed-ical
model of medical/surgical ther-apy
to the biopsychosocial model,
which might hold the key to under-standing
the pathogenesis of and
developing successful treatments for
these chronic conditions. This article
reviews the “new pathways to discov-ery”
that arose from the Chronic
Pelvic Pain/Chronic Prostatitis Scien-tific
Workshop, held October 19–21,
2005, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Understanding Chronic
Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic
Pain Syndrome
Richard Berger from the University of
Washington (co-chair with Michel
Pontari of Temple University) noted
that since Ramon Gutierrez stated in
1913 that all prostatitis was undoubt-edly
caused by infection, little
progress has been made in under-standing
chronic male pelvic pain.
The purpose of the workshop was to
develop alternative ways of thinking
about this common and frustrating
problem. Pain, the hallmark of
chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic
pain syndrome (CP/CPPS), is a com-plex
phenomenon. From the time of
Descartes, most physicians have
thought of pain as a simple stimulus
response; a certain noxious stimulus
produces the same pain in all people.
Although Descartes’ concept still
seems intuitively correct, pain re-search
has shown much more com-plexity.
Changes in the central and
peripheral nervous system in response
to or in anticipation of pain alter the
organism’s perception of the stimulus.
People do not experience the same
pain after similar noxious stimuli. In
the nervous system, neurotransmit-ters,
cytokines, and neuropeptides
change character and concentration,
genes are activated, and new axon
connections are made. Responses to
stimuli might undergo long-term
augmentation, and some neural activ-ity
leading to pain might occur spon-taneously.
Indeed it has been shown
that men with CPPS have pain sensi-tization
to heat and mechanical stim-uli,
meaning they experience stimuli
in the pelvis more intensely than men
without CPPS. There is also evidence
that the men with pain who have a
tendency to view adverse events as
catastrophic are more likely to have
more intense or a longer course for
pain. “Prostatitis” must be viewed as
more than an organ-specific disease.
This important meeting was convened
to examine and attempt to under-stand
the roles of the prostate, pelvis,

CPP/CP Scientific Workshop
VOL. 8 NO. 1 2006 REVIEWS IN UROLOGY 29
bladder, the peripheral nervous sys-tem,
central nervous systems (CNS),
the psyche, and the social milieu in
CPPS, an essential step toward im-proving
treatment.
Failure of the Biomedical Model
The traditional biomedical treatment
model that has been used during the
last century has failed many patients.
Using the biomedical model, we at-tempted
to understand the etiology
and pathogenesis of a disease process
and then direct specific, usually
organ-specific, medical and surgical
therapy to rectify the problem. We fo-cused
our attention on the organ
where the patient or physician
assumed the pathology or pain to
reside: in the case of CP/CPPS, the
prostate. We largely ignored the
neurologic, endocrinologic, and psy-chosocial
milieu in which pain
occurred and the sequelae of pain in
those same systems. Medical and
surgical therapy has been largely em-piric,
providing 20% to 40% improve-ment
rates and dismal cure rates,
especially in patients with long-term
symptoms.
Although our understanding of
patients with chronic pelvic pain as-sociated
with CP and interstitial cys-titis
(IC) has increased significantly
over the last decade, we still do not
know the definite mechanisms or,
more likely, multifactorial mecha-nisms
that lead to the chronic pain
and disability associated with these
conditions. There is little sound scien-tific
evidence for an effective thera-peutic
agent for CPPS. In acute bacte-rial
prostatitis and chronic bacterial
prostatitis, antibiotic therapy is al-most
by definition the treatment of
choice. Antibiotic selection is based
on culture and sensitivity results and
the ability of antibiotics to penetrate
the prostate. Daniel Shoskes (Cleve-land
Clinic) and J. Curtis Nickel
(Queen’s University) pointed out that,
despite success rates of up to 60% in
nonrandomized trials, no randomized
placebo-controlled trial has shown
antibiotics to be clinically effective.
Practically all urologists can cite
anecdotal evidence of antibiotic
effectiveness. Many of these anecdo-tal
observations might be due to a
strong placebo effect, the anti-inflam-matory
actions (cytokine- and tumor
necrosis factor–blocking effects) of
quinolones, tetracyclines, and
macrolides, or the inherently cyclical
nature of the symptoms and the pa-tients’
tendency to seek treatment
when symptoms are worst. Reports of
successful therapy with antibiotics, -
blockers, anti-inflammatories, herbal
preparations, or other pharmaceuti-cals
are mainly anecdotal, and these
agents have been very unimpressive
when measured against a placebo in a
well-designed clinical trial. A Na-tional
Institutes of Health multicenter
trial showed no benefit of combining
antibiotics and -blockers. Alterna-tively,
the large clinical trials showing
no effect of antibiotics were per-formed
mainly on men who had pre-viously
failed antimicrobial therapy,
and results could be different in men
who had not already failed antimicro-bial
therapy. Studies of antibiotics in
early or primary care patients need to
be performed.
Drs. Nickel and Shoskes offered
suggestions as to promising agents
that should be studied. These include
agents with neuromodulatory effects
(eg, amitriptyline and pregabalin),
with immunomodulatory effects (eg,
cyclosporin or mycophenolate mofetil
HCl [CellCept; Roche Pharmaceuticals,
Nutley, NJ]), with anti-oxidative ef-fects
(eg, quercetin), or -blockers in
men with recent onset of symptoms.
Neuropathic Components of Pain
in CP/CPPS
The central problem in men with
CP/CPPS is pain. The experience of
pain and suffering necessarily in-volves
the nervous system in produc-ing
or mediating these symptoms.
Our understanding of the causes of
CP/CPPS requires a working knowl-edge
of how nerves respond to stimuli
and the factors that influence a pa-tient’s
interpretation of this stimula-tion.
The Evolution of Pain Management
A perspective on the past, present,
and future of pain management was
provided by John Loeser (University
of Washington). Dr. Loeser described
the hierarchy of the individual’s pain
response. The initiating event is a
noxious stimulus, such as from
trauma, infection, or peripheral in-flammation.
Nociception then leads to
its conscious perception (pain). The
perceived pain is modulated by fac-tors
in the periphery, the spinal cord,
and the brain. This idea, that the neu-rologic
response is not static but able
to be modified by feedback, is a cen-tral
idea of pain physiology, called the
Despite success rates of up to 60% in nonrandomized trials, no randomized
placebo-controlled trial has shown antibiotics to be clinically effective.
Our understanding of the causes of CP/CPPS requires a working knowledge
of how nerves respond to stimuli.

“gate theory.” Pain can also be re-ported
by the CNS in the absence of
nociception and be spontaneously
perceived, such as in phantom limb
pain and pain after stroke. Whether
CP/CPPS is another example has yet
to be determined. The perception of
pain can lead to suffering when com-bined
with the patients’ previous
experiences and the meanings given
to the pain. Finally, pain and suffer-ing
lead to pain behavior, which is the
only way we know someone is in
pain. Dr. Loeser pointed out that these
relationships underscore the concept
that pain is not just a manifestation
of something “broken” in the body
that needs to be fixed; it represents a
human symptom requiring a multidis-ciplinary
management team to effec-tively
treat.
Comparison of Acute
and Chronic Pain
Ursula Wesselmann (Johns Hopkins
University) compared and contrasted
acute and chronic pain states. Chronic
visceral pain of the pelvis or urogen-ital
floor often begins with an inflam-matory
event. For example, vulvody-nia
frequently begins with a yeast
infection, and a urinary tract infec-tion
often immediately precedes the
development of IC. The problem in
patients with chronic visceral pain,
such as CP/CPPS, is that the initial
event, be it infectious or traumatic,
sets up a pain experience that persists
long after the initial stimulus is gone.
It is known that tissue injury can lead
to sensitization (ie, a decrease in the
intensity of the stimulus needed to
elicit a response by the nerve). For ex-ample,
in patients with sensitized
bladder nerves, a low volume of blad-der
filling that normally does not pro-duce
symptoms can generate urgency
and pain. Sensitization can occur in
both the peripheral nervous system
and CNS. Central sensitization, such
as that manifested by increased spinal
cord levels of cFos, can occur when
inflammation in one area, such as the
uterus, is followed by inflammation
in an area of overlapping innervation,
such as the vagina. Mechanisms un-derlying
this development of the
chronic pain state, independent of the
initiating event, include changes in
gene expression in the CNS, such as
expression of cFos, loss of inhibitory
interneurons, establishment of aber-rant
excitatory synaptic connections,
and long-term potentiation of re-sponse
due to changes in sensitivity
of nerve synapses. Some of the cellu-lar
responses responsible for sensiti-zation
include phosphorylation of
receptors for neurotransmitters on the
nerves, resulting in a decreased
threshold for activation. Stress might
also play a role in central sensitiza-tion:
rat pups placed in a quieter en-vironment
Alterations in nerve receptors and neuroendocrine mediators noted in
peripheral and central sensitization might provide a target for therapy
for CP/CPPS.
develop less sensitization
after the induction of paw inflamma-tion
than those in a more stressful en-vironment.
Mediators of CNS
Neural Plasticity
Margaret Vizzard (University of Ver-mont)
described in more detail several
of the candidate neurotransmitters re-sponsible
for central sensitization in
chronic pain states. There is an in-crease
in staining for substance P and
calcitonin gene-related polypeptide
(CGRP) in rat bladder afferent cells of
the lumbosacral dorsal root ganglia
and spinal cord after cyclophos-phamide
(CYP)-induced cystitis.
Another mediator that has been im-plicated
in pelvic inflammation is
PACAP (pituitary adenylate cyclase–
activating protein). PACAP is in the
vasoactive intestinal polypeptide
family of neuroendocrine mediators.
In animal models of inflammation in-duced
by CYP, there is also increased
staining of PACAP in the same blad-der
afferent cells in the lumbosacral
dorsal root ganglion and pelvic spinal
levels. Intrathecal instillation of an
antagonist for the PAC1 receptor re-sults
in decreased bladder overactivity
in the CYP model. Inflammation also
increases messenger ribonucleic acid
and subsequent protein expression of
other neurotropic factors, including
nerve growth factor (NGF). Use of a
recombinant NGF-sequestering pro-tein,
REN1820, leads to significant
reduction in the number and ampli-tude
of nonvoiding contractions, as
well as decreased voiding frequency
in animals with CYP cystitis.
Alterations in NGF also mediate the
changes in micturition reflexes in
cystitis and might provide a target for
therapy for these changes.
The Neurophysiological Relationship
of Pain and Sex
Richard Bodnar (Queens College, New
York, NY) reviewed the role of go-nadal
hormones in pain physiology.
There are marked gender differences
in analgesic response. Men generally
display greater levels of analgesia at
lower doses of analgesics than
women. This occurs with both opioid
and nonopioid analgesics and in the
analgesia associated with the stress
response. These differences are
greater for -opioid agonists relative
to - and -opioid agonists. Hor-mones
are involved in both the orga-nization
and activation of the CNS.
The organizational role is the effect of
CPP/CP Scientific Workshop continued

the hormones on development of the
CNS. An example is that male rat
pups castrated 1 day after birth dis-play
adult analgesic responses to
morphine similar to those in adult
females; conversely, female pups
androgenized with testosterone ex-hibit
responses similar to those in
adult males. The periaqueductal gray
(PAG) area, located near pain-in-hibitory
centers, is one brain area that
is involved in the differential effects
of organization by hormones; the
PAG is also a site in the emotional
motor system, a link between emo-tions
and pain perception.
Visceral Pain
Gerald Gebhart (University of Iowa)
discussed the differences between
pain from visceral sites and that from
somatic sites. Nociception in internal
organs or visceral pain differs from
somatic pain in several respects. Vis-ceral
pain is diffuse and poorly local-ized,
and it is referred and not felt at
the source. One of the anatomic rea-sons
for these observations is that
there is extensive arborization of sen-sory
nerves in their spinal cord levels;
nociception is felt not just at one level
of the spinal cord but at several levels
at once. These areas are also receiving
input from other viscera and somatic
structures at the same time, leading to
a mechanism for modulation of the
painful area on other areas, and vice
versa. The input from nociceptors is
also multimodal; input can include,
for example, both mechanical and
thermal afferents at the same time.
Visceral pain can be produced by
stimuli different than that necessary
to produce somatic pain. Injury is not
required for visceral pain: it can be
induced by hollow organ dissension,
traction on the mesentery, ischemia,
and chemicals. Also, visceral pain is
associated with emotional and auto-nomic
responses not seen with
somatic pain.
Dr. Gebhart also discussed mecha-nisms
of central sensitization in vis-ceral
organs. After tissue injury, there
develops an increase in the number of
spinal levels that respond to a stimu-lus
from a given site. There is also
increased input from higher CNS cen-ters
that influence the spinal response
to nociception. After colon inflamma-tion,
for example, there is increased
output from the rostral ventral
medulla. Importantly, the rostral
ventral medulla is also influenced by
emotion and cognition, providing
another link between these factors
and the spinal level of the noxious
stimuli. There can also be changes in
the type of sensory fibers that mediate
a pain response. Normal visceral
sensation is carried by myelinated
A fibers. However, with a noxious
stimulus, previously silent unmyeli-nated
C fibers can become activated,
and activated C fibers might fire
more vigorously. C fibers, so called
because they respond to capsaicin,
contain many sensory neuropeptides,
many of which are associated with
somatic pain, such as substance P and
CGRP.
Summary
Ursula Wesselmann (Johns Hopkins
University) summarized the crucial
clinical questions that need to be
addressed:
1. Is it possible to prevent modifica-tions
of the nociceptive system and
the progression from an acute to a
chronic pain syndrome?
2. Can we predict which patients are
at risk to develop a chronic pain
syndrome after an acute pain
event?
These questions underscore the im-portance
of prevention before a sensi-tization
and chronic pain event devel-ops.
Chronic pain is very difficult to
treat, given the complex nature of the
response and the interaction of the
physiologic and subsequent psy-chosocial
changes that occur and that
can help to perpetuate the condition.
Psychosocial Aspects of Pain
in CP/CPPS
The Meaning of Pain
This is the first time a urology meet-ing
devoted to CP/CPPS explored the
important psychosocial dynamics in
patients with these conditions. It is
hoped that this will lead to evidence-based
biopsychosocial therapies that
might not cure but at least will ame-liorate
symptoms, decrease disability,
and improve the quality of life of pa-tients
suffering from CP and IC. David
B. Morris (University of Virginia) ex-plored
the meanings of pain to “the
pained”—that is, to persons in pain.
He argued that our understanding of
pain beliefs should extend beyond our
current focus on causation, duration,
and catastrophe. We should not focus
on the meaning of pain too narrowly,
a focus that usually emphasizes cog-nitive
(as distinct from emotional)
experience. He argued that emotion is
intrinsic to cognition when examin-ing
the relevance of pain to the per-son
in pain. He further pointed out
that pain patients understand and
experience their pain within a
cognitive “frame,” a concept often
unrecognized by the framer. This im-portant
address set the stage for fur-ther
discussion of the relevance and
significance of the psychosocial as-pects
of pain to patients with CP
(and IC).
Cognition and Emotion
in Pain Perception
M. Catherine Bushnell (McGill Uni-versity)
further explored the influ-ence
of cognition and emotion in
pain perception. Psychophysical
studies have shown that pain percep-tion
is altered both by attention to
the pain and the mood of the patient,
but the nature of the modulation dif-fers
in individuals. The degree of

attention to the pain alters primarily
the perceived intensity of the pain,
whereas mood alters primarily the
unpleasantness associated with the
pain. Brain imaging experiments are
now being used to explore mecha-nisms
underlying psychological mod-ulation
of pain. These human studies
have shown that attention and dis-traction
show modulation of pain-evoked
activity in the thalamus and
in several other cortical regions, in-cluding
somatosensory cortex, ante-rior
cingulate cortex (ACC), and insu-lar
cortex. Other regions, including
PAG, parts of the ACC, and orbital
frontal cortex, have been shown to be
activated when subjects are dis-tracted
from pain, suggesting that
these regions might be involved in
the modulatory circuitry related to
attention. The speaker noted that
much less is known about the path-ways
involved in the emotional mod-ulation
of pain; however, negative
emotional states enhance activity in
limbic regions, such as the ACC and
insular cortex. These basic psy-chophysical
studies not only improve
our understanding of pain modula-tion
in conditions such as CP and IC
but also point to potential therapeu-tic
targets.
Depression and Catastrophizing
in Chronic Pain States
Jennifer A. Haythornthwaite (Johns
Hopkins University) noted that de-pression
often accompanies persis-tent
pain, including chronic pelvic
pain, and depression rates in pain pa-tients
are higher than those seen in
the general population. Prospective
studies (including studies in CP and
IC) indicate that persistent pain in-creases
the risk for depression and
also suggest that depression increases
the risk for persistent pain. Further
studies suggest that elevated rates of
depression seen in chronic pelvic
pain are related to the experience of
pain, not the presence or absence of
an organic cause. Depressive symp-toms
occur on a continuum of sever-ity,
and even mild symptoms influ-ence
pain, pain-related coping, and
pain-related disability. One of the
maladaptive pain coping strategies—
catastrophizing—is consistently asso-ciated
with depression, pain, and dis-ability.
In addition to magnifying
pain, catastrophizing seems to galva-nize
internal resources (attention,
emotion, and behavior) and stimu-lates
pain behavior. The social re-sponses
activated by catastrophizing
consist of negative, punishing re-sponses
that enhance rather than
mitigate pain and depression. Urolo-gists
need to be cognizant of depres-sion
as a psychiatric syndrome and of
catastrophizing as a maladaptive
coping strategy that can have subtle
or significant impacts on the CP or IC
patient’s pain, daily life, and outlook.
Pelvic Pain Is Sexual Pain
Julia R. Heiman (Indiana University)
suggested that pelvic pain is sexual
pain. Chronic pelvic pain connected
with sexual functioning has tradition-ally
been discussed in women with
vaginismus and dyspareunia. It is
now apparent that patients with
pelvic pain show augmented genital
sensory processing, hypervigilance
for coital pain, and a selective atten-tional
bias toward pain stimuli. Little
attention has been paid to sexual
symptoms in men with CP. Men with
CP, when asked, have reported sexual
problems of pain during or immedi-ately
after sexual intercourse (associ-ated
with ejaculation), decreased fre-quency
of sexual activities, varying
degrees of erectile dysfunction, and
decreased libido. Recent studies have
shown that men with CP report less
sexual pleasure and satisfaction. Sex-ual
functioning as a predictor of poor
quality of life and disability must be
explored in future studies.
Methodology and Outcome Measures
in Pain Studies
Dennis C. Turk (University of Wash-ington)
discussed the problems in
methodology and outcome measures
in clinical trials evaluating pain and
pain perception. He argued that com-prehensive
assessment of the person
who experiences pain should address
emotional functioning, physical func-tioning,
both positive and negative
effects of treatments, and the patient’s
overall appraisal of the benefits of
any treatment initiated. He further
argued that pain-related outcome
measures need to be developed in
conjunction with the groups in whom
they are planned to be used. Target
groups of patients with CP and IC
need to be involved in the develop-ment
of the content of any question-naire.
He further questioned the
traditional approaches to treatment
outcome studies, which focus primar-ily
on statistical significance. These
studies should probably be focused on
whether the effects are clinically rele-vant
or meaningful. The problem is
determining whether a treatment is
clinically meaningful. The criteria the
patient might use to determine
whether treatment made a meaningful
difference in his or her life would
likely consist of a balance between
the clinical effects weighed against
the cost, inconvenience, and adverse
effects. The patient might be pleased
with a small degree of amelioration of
pain and improvement in quality of
life, particularly if there were few
negative side effects and little
inconvenience, whereas the health
care provider might be looking for a
larger reduction in pain and improve-ment
in quality of life but be willing
to accept more inconvenience and a
larger number of adverse effects than
would the patient. There must be
some agreement as to the level of
improvement that is clinically
meaningful, to define “a minimally

important difference.” In patients
with pain and poor quality of life, a
responder analysis in which a per-centage
of patients achieve that level
of importance should be reported.
New Directions in the Treatment
of CP/CPPS
Treatment of Neuropathic Pain in
CP/CPPS
Alan Cowan (Temple University
School of Medicine) pointed out the
inherent limitations of translating
results from preclinical neuropharma-cology
studies to the patient. Newer
medications, such as the anticonvul-sant
gabapentin and pregabalin, are
becoming increasingly used for neu-ropathic
pain. The efficacy and safety
of pregabalin are presently being
evaluated in CP/CPPS by the National
Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis
Collaborative Research Network.
There is also the possibility that drugs
that are currently used for irritable
bowel syndrome (eg, tegaserod, a
serotonin type 4 receptor partial ago-nist)
might hold some potential use
for treating CP/CPPS.
Alternative Therapies
Alternative therapies are generally
therapies that are unproven. Some al-ternative
therapies have later become
standard medical therapy. Some de-fine
alternative as therapy not follow-ing
a strict medical model of finding
“the cause” of the disease and treating
it with pharmacotherapeutic drugs or
surgery of proven effectiveness. Al-ternative
therapies might be com-bined
with proven medical therapies.
Alternative therapies might be self-administered.
Alternative therapies
might also be programs that address
the biopsychosocial model and that
are standard in many pain clinics. In
this model, it is thought necessary to
address not only the biological as-pects
of disease but also the meanings
of the disease to the patient and the
social and support systems that are
affected by and that might support
the patients’ wellness or sickness. The
psychological, neurologic, and socio-logical
aspects of CPPS pain are de-tailed
elsewhere in this review. In
some sense, all therapies for CPPS re-main
alternative, given that no ther-apy
has been proven to be effective.
Barbara Shorter (Long Island Uni-versity)
detailed self-treatment with
dietary therapy in patients with blad-der
symptoms diagnosed with IC. It is
well recognized that CPPS patients
also perform self- and physician-prescribed
dietary therapy. Patients
identified caffeine, citrus fruits and
juices, tomatoes and tomato products,
vinegar, and alcoholic beverages as
items that exacerbated bladder symp-toms
the most. Foods helpful to
symptoms were not identified.
David Wise (Stanford University)
presented the paradigm and results of
the “Stanford Protocol: Paradoxical
Relaxation/Trigger Point Release for
the Treatment of Prostatitis/CPPS.”
Dr. Wise proposes that a chronically
contracted muscular pelvic floor is
responsible for the varied symptoms
present in this syndrome. With his
technique of “paradoxical relaxation”
to relax the pelvic floor and modify
the tendency to tense the pelvic mus-cles,
along with rehabilitation by de-activation
of pelvic trigger points, he
claims to achieve a 72% success rate
in patients who failed other therapy.
Properly controlled and comparative
trials are needed.
John S. McDonald (University of
California, Los Angeles) presented a
theory of the etiology of pelvic pain
based on pudendal neuropathy, also
called “pudendal nerve entrapment.”
This syndrome is analogous to me-dian
nerve compression in the wrist
and occurs when the pudendal nerve
is compressed between the sacroiliac
and sacrospinous ligaments in the
pelvis. This nerve carries motor, sen-sory,
and autonomic fibers and has
great anatomic variability. Compres-sion
and injury therefore might occur
in many ways and produce multiple
and varied symptoms, ranging from
sitting pain, urinary pain, defecation
pain, vulvo-vestibulitis, perineal
pain, prostatitis pain, and prostato-dynia.
This syndrome can be found
either with or without neurologic
signs, making it difficult to diagnose.
Dr. McDonald reports that sitting
pain relieved by standing or sitting
on a toilet seat is the most reliable di-agnostic
parameter. He uses a neural
multilevel treatment protocol using
neuroleptic agents, antidepressants,
and pudendal nerve blocks with local
anesthetics and steroids and sees pro-gressive
improvement with increas-ing
numbers of blocks. Controlled tri-als
are not available. Stanley Antolak
(University of Minneapolis) treated
pudendal “entrapment” with a series
of pudendal nerve perineural
The efficacy and safety of pregabalin, a new anticonvulsant used for neuro-pathic
pain, are presently being evaluated in CP/CPPS by the National
Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Collaborative Research Network.
Psychosocial therapies can help patients identify and change maladaptive,
cognitive, and behavioral responses to pain.

injections consisting of 0.25% bupi-vacaine
and triamcinolone acetonide
in men with CPPS. A series of three
injections was necessary to achieve a
response. The durability of the re-sponse
was variable and might be
only for a short duration, but the
treatment would also be useful as a
diagnostic maneuver. Better methods
to test the function of the pudendal
nerve are needed before the true
frequency of this syndrome can be
determined.
Psychosocial Therapy for CP/CPPS
Clinical researchers in the field of CP
and IC are only now starting to ac-cept
the clinical observations and
empiric studies that attest to the im-portance
of psychosocial and envi-ronmental
factors in these chronic
pain syndromes. Judith A. Turner
(University of Washington School of
Medicine) argued that psychosocial
therapies can help patients identify
and change maladaptive, cognitive,
and behavioral responses to pain.
These treatments would involve in-struction
and practice in adaptive
cognitive and behavioral responses.
She further suggested that such treat-ments
would be effective in reducing
pain, suffering, and pain-related dis-ability
among patients with chronic
pain problems, such as CP and IC.
Certainly, randomized controlled tri-als
have supported the efficacies of
these cognitive-behavioral therapies
for a variety of chronic pain prob-lems,
including low back pain and
arthritis. However, research has not
examined the effectiveness of these
therapies for CP (or IC). Recent stud-ies
on both CP and IC are now pro-viding
data regarding the psychoso-cial
dynamics of patients with these
conditions. These data can be used to
develop evidence-based psychosocial
treatment protocols that can and
should be assessed in prospective
trials.
The Biopsychosocial Model: The Key
to Successful Treatment?
The poor quality of life and signifi-cant
disability associated with the
chronic pain of CPPS turn out to
Table 1
New Pathways in the Understanding of Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic
Pelvic Pain Syndrome
Future Directions in the Understanding of Etiology and Pathogenesis
Long-term effect of acute nociception
Sensitization of the peripheral and central nervous system
Immunological interaction
Psychosocial modulation
Future Directions in Therapy
Immunomodulatory therapies
Neuromodulatory therapies
Physical therapies
Psychosocial-based therapies
Main Points
• Traditional biomedical treatment for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) has failed many patients;
antibiotics, -blockers, anti-inflammatories, herbal preparations, and other pharmaceuticals have been very unimpressive when
measured against a placebo in a well-designed clinical trial.
• It is hoped that an understanding of the psychosocial dynamics in CP/CPPS patients will lead to evidence-based biopsychoso-cial
therapies that might not cure but at least will ameliorate symptoms, decrease disability, and improve quality of life.
• Psychophysical studies have shown that pain perception is altered both by attention to the pain and the mood of the patient.
• Urologists need to be cognizant of depression as a psychiatric syndrome and of catastrophizing as a maladaptive coping strat-egy
that can have subtle or significant impacts on the CP patient’s pain, daily life, and outlook.
• Little attention has been paid to sexual symptoms in men with CP; sexual functioning as a predictor of poor quality of life and
disability must be explored in future studies.
• Randomized controlled trials have supported the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapies for a variety of chronic pain prob-lems,
including low back pain and arthritis; research has not examined the effectiveness of these therapies for CP.
• Physical therapies may hold the key to amelioration of pain and disability in patients who have developed dysfunctional
myofascial pelvic pain.

be much more complicated than the
simple traditional model provided by
infectious, neuropathic, or immuno-logic
etiology. Many factors, such
as genetics, personality, attitudes,
social/cultural environment, coping
strategies, perceptions of control,
emotions, and behavior disturbances
all interact with the chronic pain to
determine the individual patient’s
adaptation to persistent pain. The CP
research community must explore
these dimensions in patients suffer-ing
from the disease, to provide solid
data for the development of individ-ualized
evidence-based biopsychoso-cial
treatment protocols. The tradi-tional
biomedical models must
continue to be pursued by the scien-tific
community because they hold
the key to the initiation of the condi-tion
in susceptible individuals. For
any treatment to be successful (or cu-rative),
the factors that initiate the
inflammatory and neuropathic state
or continue to create continued in-flammation
and/or peripheral nerve
stimulation must be dealt with. How-ever,
in patients with long-standing
pain, the psychosocial therapeutic
model likely holds the key to long-term
amelioration of pain (or at least
increased tolerance of pain), de-creased
disability, and improved
quality of life in patients suffering
from CP/CPPS.

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