Prostatic abscess: imaging with transrectal sonography and MR.

Prostatic abscesses occur infrequently and usually are the result of inadequately treated acute bacterial prostatitis [1, 2]. Since they require drainage in addition to antibiotics, early recognition is important. Differentiation between prostatitis and an abscess may be difficult on clinical grounds, as the symptoms are often similar [1 , 2]. Transrectal sonography and MR offer excellent tissue discrimination of the prostate [3-7]. We present a patient with a prostatic abscess in whom transrectal sonography and MR were useful in establishing the diagnosis.