Objective To investigate the ef®cacy of transurethral needle ablation (TUNA) of the prostate for treating chronic nonbacterial prostatitis unresponsive to conservative therapies. Patients and methods Forty-two patients (mean age 38.5 years, range 25±52) with nonbacterial prostatitis in whom clinical management was unsuccessful in relieving the symptoms or signs of prostatitis were treated using TUNA. All patients had a high leukocyte count (>15 per high-power ®eld) in expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) with no bacterial growth in either urine or prostatic secretion cultures. Before TUNA all patients were evaluated using a symptom score, satisfaction score (quality of life) and an examination of prostatic secretions. All patients were reassessed using the same variables 1 and 3 months after TUNA. Of the 42 patients, 10 had their semen analysed before and 3 months after treatment.Results The mean (SD) symptom and satisfaction scores improved signi®cantly, from 11.02 (2.90) to 5.00 (2.61) and from 4.84 (0.57) to 1.26 (1.18), respectively, 3 months after TUNA (both P<0.05). Of the 42 patients, 30 (71%) had normal EPS results within 3 months of TUNA. Also, of 37 patients with high leukocyte counts (>100 per high-power ®eld) before TUNA, 26 (70%) had normal EPS results within 3 months afterward, and 29 (78%) had a satisfaction score of <3 points. Conclusions TUNA may be a possible treatment option for patients with chronic nonbacterial prostatitis that is unresponsive to conservative therapies. A long-term follow-up and randomized studies are needed to con®rm the ef®cacy of the TUNA against intractable chronic prostatitis.

Acute urinary retention in aseptic meningitis is rarely encountered, and the diagnosis of aseptic meningitis may be less than straightforward, because its symptoms and neurological signs are occasionally mild or absent. We report a case in which acute urinary retention provided an appropriate indication for the diagnosis of aseptic meningitis as the cause of an undiagnosed fever.