Therapy of prostate abscess by employing pigtail drainage with transrectal ultrasound control

: Prostatic abscess is a rare but often severe disease. In most cases diagnosis is difficult. The best diagnostic tool is transrectal ultrasound, which depicts prostatic abscess very clearly. The therapy of choice to date is surgery, usually transurethral resection. At the Department of Urology of the University of Kiel we have employed another form of treatment, namely perineal drainage of the abscess with a pigtail tube under transrectal ultrasound guidance. This method is expected to be particularly advantageous in younger patients, for whom transurethral resection may cause problems. Five patients aged 24-71 years have been treated in this manner so far.