← Back to News
·New York & USA

Misdiagnosed as prostatitis: when the prostate is not the problem — Patient questions

Medically reviewed by Dr Renaud Bollens — Professor of Urology

Patient questions

The questions patients ask us most often about chronic prostatitis misdiagnosis — answered directly, without hedging.

Chronic pelvic pain in men is very frequently labelled chronic prostatitis or chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Repeat courses of antibiotics follow, cultures come back negative, and the pain continues unchanged — a strong sign the prostate was never the source.

Nerve pain does not respond to antibiotics. When the pain is burning rather than aching, positional rather than constant, and accompanied by numbness or hypersensitivity of the perineum, the pudendal nerve deserves a proper look.

Dr Bollens reviews previous urology work-ups in full before drawing conclusions. The aim is not to overturn earlier care but to ask a question that was never asked: is this nerve pain, and can it be treated surgically?

Send your questions to our team and a coordinator replies within one business day, in strict confidence.