Taipei City Hospital

A 58-year-old man went to see a urologist in Taipei City Hospital Yangming Branch, and complained of sudden feeling of weakness, dysuria and frequent urination with little urine.

After the inquiry, it was found that the patient only had a little dysuria at first, but he did not take drugs for treating prostatic hypertrophy. Recent great work stress and sleep deprivation made the urination more difficult than before. He had a fever of 38.5 degrees; the physician palpated his prostate with fingers and found there were pressure pains, and the blood tests showed that the white blood cells rose to 16500/ul and PSA 61ng/ml. It was preliminarily diagnosed as acute prostatitis and the patient was suggested to be hospitalized.

Lai Ming-Chih, a urologist in Taipei City Hospital, says that acute prostatitis is not a rare disease, and is usually accompanied by fever, dysuria, slow uroflowmetry and frequent urination as the initial symptoms. In serious cases, the patients will have sepsis combined with shock and will need to be hospitalized in the intensive care unit. Moreover, patients suffering from dysuria combined with serious urinary retention should adopt cystostomy instead of ureters, where possible, to reduce the irritation on the prostate.

Dr. Lai reminds the male public that when there is an acute fever accompanied by dysuria, they should see a urologist as soon as possible. Early identification of the disease will enable early treatment and avoid serious complications and life endangerment.