Prostate cancer and prostate infection can spread. Can prostatitis spread?

Cancers literally physically spread (metastasize) their cells to other organs. And certain cancers spread preferentially to specific other sites: Prostate cancer spreads  to bone and lymph nodes. Infections can also spread. For example, prostate infections can also spread: They can migrate backwards (retrograde) to the bladder and kidneys, as well as to the blood (bacteria in the blood is called "bacteremia" and/or "sepsis").

Can prostatitis spread? Clinical prostatitis is not cancer and so, unlike cancer, prostatitis has no capacity to spread itself physically and physically to other sites. Clinical prostatitis sometimes is an infectious illness. For example, bacterial prostatitis is an illness of bacteria invading and harming the prostate; there are also forms of viral and fungal prostatitis, which are rare. Bacterial prostatitis may be associated with bacteria spreading to to other places. For example, the bacteria can get into the bloodstream, a potentially very serious complication of bacterial prostatitis. However, the spread of bacteria is not the spread of prostatitis; this is in contrast to what is seen in cancer, when the actual prostate cells migrate to bone and other sites. So no, prostatitis does not spread.

Can prostatitis involve bone and/or other organs without the physical migration of the prostate cells? This question takes on meaning because patients sometimes complain of pains in other sites at the same time as they have prostate pain. For example, a young man reported this weekend that he was being evaluated for reactive arthritis. He had gotten to this point after treatments for recurrent prostatitis with antibiotics and massage, both of which failed. His evaluation to date had included negative MRI of the most painful joint and HL-27 gene test. His treatment with prednisone, a commonly used steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, has reduced his bone pain but done nothing for his prostatitis.

Reactive arthritis, formerly known as Reiter's syndrome, is a clinical picture characterized by inflammation and discomfort in several seemingly disconnected organs: Conjunctiva, urethra and prostate, and joints. The exact cause of this odd constellation of organs is not known. However, the presentation seems to be more common after exposure to certain infectious agents, of which chlamydia is perhaps the most commonly cited. Gonnorhea, Salmonella, and other bacteria have also been associated with reactive arthritis, as have such parasite infections as Strongyloides stercoralis and Schistosoma mansoni. It isn't that prostatitis involves the bones and eyeballs. It's that all three are apparently secondarily involved by the initial cause.

Patients with chronic prostatitis know full well that the illness can be associated with various and at times bewildering combinations of symptoms, including fatigue, trouble thinking, and muscle aches. The specific combination of prostate pain, joint pain, and irritation of the conjuctiva, however, should trigger a search for reactive arthritis, which can at times be effectively remedied by steroids and other anti-inflammatory medications.

If you suspect that you may have reactive arthritis, ask to see a rheumatologist.