The male prostate is an important accessory sex gland. Its primary functions are to form part of the male urethra and to secrete prostatic fluid. Prostatic fluid is a component of semen, and many of its constituents play a vital role in maintaining sperm quality.

If pathological changes occur in the prostate, such as the most common condition, prostatitis, it can lead to changes in the physical and chemical properties of the prostatic fluid. We can obtain prostatic fluid through prostate massage and then identify potential lesions through physical and chemical testing. For example, a routine prostatic fluid examination evaluates the color, odor, white blood cell count, and lecithin corpuscle count, while a prostatic fluid culture can determine the presence of bacterial or other pathogenic microbial infections.

So, is there any special preparation required before collecting prostatic fluid? In fact, there is. Specifically, a certain period of abstinence is required before a routine prostatic fluid examination. I generally advocate for 3 to 5 days of abstinence, which allows sufficient time for the secretion of prostatic fluid, making the collection procedure smoother and more convenient. Otherwise, if the abstinence period is too short, it may be difficult to obtain the fluid, or the concentration of certain active components might be too low, potentially affecting the test results.

Of course, there are no special requirements regarding abstinence for a prostatic fluid microbial culture, as the volume of the fluid does not affect the detection results of microorganisms.

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The required abstinence period before collecting prostatic fluid varies across different age groups. For young and middle-aged men, the gonadal secretions are vigorous, and a sufficient volume can be reached in a relatively short time. However, this is not the case for middle-aged and elderly men, whose prostatic fluid secretion decreases significantly. Therefore, the abstinence requirements can be more relaxed for younger men, while older men should appropriately increase the number of days of abstinence.