ABSTRACT
For reasons not yet understood, the prostate seems especially prone to chronic inflammation. In approximately 10% of cases, this is the result of a bacterial, chlamydial or other infecting microorganisms. For the remaining 90% of cases, however, no definite etiological cause has yet been identified. Prostatic ducts, and the acini into which they branch (see Figure 2), are the foci of these inflammatory processes. A number of non-infective etiological factors may be involved. When inflammation does occur, the subsequent chronic prostatitis affects the peripheral zone more often than the central zone of the gland. One explanation for this may be that peripheral zone prostatic ducts enter the prostatic urethra at a less oblique angle than do central zone ducts. This may render the peripheral zone ducts more susceptible to intraprostatic reflux of urine during micturition (Figure 25). Studies using intravesical instillation of India ink prior to voiding and subsequent prostatectomy have revealed an intraprostatic finding of carbon particles (Figure 26) and have also demonstrated their subsequent ingestion by macrophages23 (Figure 27).
