Abstract:Objective To investigate the short- and long-term clinical effects of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS). Methods A total of 117 patients with CP/CPPS were randomly divided into treatment group with 60 patients and control group with 57 patients. The patients in the treatment group were given acupuncture at Shenshu, Zhongliao, Huiyang, and Sanyinjiao acupoints, and those in the control group were given minimal acupuncture at sham acupoints next to Shenshu, Zhongliao, Huiyang, and Sanyinjiao acupoints. Acupuncture was performed three times a week for 8 weeks in total. The National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI) and expressed prostatic secretion (EPS) score were used to evaluate the clinical outcome. Results After treatment, the treatment group had a significantly better clinical outcome than the control group (P<0.05). Both groups had significant reductions in NIH-CPSI and EPS score after treatment (P<0.05), and the treatment group had a significantly greater reduction in EPS score than the control group (P<0.05). The treatment group showed no significant change in NIH-CPSI from immediately to 12 weeks after treatment (P>0.05), and the treatment group had a significantly lower NIH-CPSI than the control group at 12 weeks after treatment (P<0.05). Conclusion Acupuncture at Shenshu, Zhongliao, Huiyang, and Sanyinjiao acupoints have good short- and long-term clinical effects in the treatment of CP/CPPS.