Treatment of refractory category III nonbacterial chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome with intraprostatic injection of onabotulinumtoxinA: a prospective controlled study.

INTRODUCTION: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of intraprostatic injections of onabotulinumtoxinA (onaBoNT-A) to treat refractory chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective two-group controlled study. Treatment group included adult men with refractory category-III nonbacterial CP/CPPS who underwent transurethral intraprostatic injections of onaBoNT-A (200 U). Control group included comparable patients who underwent cystoscopy only. Primary outcome was the proportion of 6-point responders (≥ 6 points reduction of total score of National Institutes of Health-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index [NIH-CPSI]), at 3 months. Secondary outcomes included proportions of quality of life (QoL) responders (≤ 2 points in QoL domain), and global response assessment (GRA) responders (patients reporting moderately improved, or markedly improved), at 3 months. Other outcomes comprised changes from baseline NIH-CPSI scores, visual analog scale (VAS) sub-score of pain domain, PSA, prostate volume, post-void residual urine, and maximum flow rate. Significance was set at p 0.05, each). Compared to control, mean NIH-CPSI total scores of treated men at 1 and 3 months were significantly different (p < 0.001, each). CONCLUSION: OnaBoNT-A intraprostatic injections appeared to be effective and safe to ameliorate symptoms of refractory nonbacterial CP/CPPS; with pain most improved. The improvements gradually dwindled at 9-12 months.