Traditional Chinese medicine regulates inflammatory factors in chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome: A review

Abstract

ABSTRACT Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a common male urological disease, and its clinical manifestations are closely related to the dysregulation of inflammatory factors. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have been shown to be effective in managing inflammation and providing pain relief, but their clinical application remains controversial. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is widely used to regulate inflammatory factors in CP/CPPS, and treatment with TCM has gained some advantages based on an “individualized” or “personalized” medical approach. In addition, TCM extracts and acupuncture therapy have also been proven to be effective for CP/CPPS, as they regulate related inflammatory factors. However, current systematic reviews tend to verify the efficacy and safety of TCM therapies in CP/CPPS, and there is still a deficiency in sorting out their mechanisms of modulating inflammatory factors. Based on the current evidence, our review summarizes the application of TCM in regulating inflammatory factors in CP/CPPS to provide a reference for the treatment of CP/CPPS with TCM therapy and a potential direction with future studies in this field.