Pollen Extract To Treat CP/CPPS

A pollen extract may be an effective treatment for inflammatory chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS), a study suggests.

The study, led by Florian M.E. Wagenlehner, MD, of Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany, included 139 men with inflammatory NIH category III CP/CPPS. The investigators randomly assigned 70 patients to receive cernitin pollen extract (two capsules every eight hours) and 69 men to receive placebo for 12 weeks. They evaluated subjects using the NIH Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (CPSI).

Compared with the placebo arm, the pollen extract group experienced significant improvement in NIH-CPSI pain and quality-of-life domain scores and in total score, according to a report in European Urology (2009; published online ahead of print). The researchers observed a treatment response—defined as a decrease in the NIH-CPSI score by at least 25% or at least six points—in 70.6% of the pollen extract recipients versus 50% of the placebo arm.

As a result of study findings, the authors said the pollen extract can be recommended for patients with CP/CPPS in the dosage and duration studied.