Personality pathology underlying chronic prostatitis

Personality testing was performed on 56 patients with clinical symptoms of chronic prostatitis. The psychological methods used were RO, TAT, FAM and Beck's Depression Inventory. Q factor analysis of the patients was performed and yielded four factors representing four different personality pathologies, i.e. psychosomatic structure, alexithymic personality, borderline personality and narcissistic personality. The duration of the somatic symptoms correlated positively with the severity of the psychic symptoms. The etiology of the different pathologies expressed by the patients with chronic prostatitis was, according to the researchers, the same. All are disorders of the pregenital level and all can be interpreted as a consequence of disturbance of the first object relationships, the key factor being defective fantasy development.

Psychic disturbances in patients with chronic prostatis

A psychological study, which included personality testing (BDI, MMPI, RO, TAT), was performed on 42 patients with clinical symptoms of chronic prostatitis. The patients were characterized by prolonged symptoms and poor response to treatment by general practitioners. Some degree of psychic difficulty was revealed in 80% of the patients, and signs of severe psychic disturbance in 20 to 50%. The outstanding psychic symptoms were anxiety, depression, affect-lability, weak masculine identity and other sexual disorders, and even psychotic features. This pattern of psychic disorders corresponds with that described for borderline personality. The common occurrence of specific psychic and sexual disturbances suggests that these psychic factors may have a causative role in chronic prostatitis.

Leydig cell tumor with gynecomastia. Report of a case with electron microscopy

A case of Leydig cell tumor is reported and discussed. The tumor, 1.5 cm in diameter, was located in the capsule of the right testis. Gynecomastia present for 3 months was almost absent 4 months postoperatively. Preoperative hormone analysis revealed a low concentration of serum testosterone, which was normalized 1 week postoperatively. In electron microscopic examination, several intracytoplasmic microbody-like structures and 'tigroid' mitochondria were noted. These findings are similar to the three earlier descriptions of Leydig cell tumors.

Active specific immunotherapy of advanced renal-cell carcinoma

The results of a specific active immunotherapy method following palliative nephrectomy in 31 patients suffering from advanced renal-cell carcinoma are presented. The control patient group comprised of 23 comparable cases, who did not receive immunotherapy. The minimum follow-up time for any patient is 4 years. The statistical 5-year survival rate of the immunotherapy group is 23.6% (SE = 7.8). 7 patients are still alive. The 5-year survival rate of the control group is 4.3% (SE = 4.3), without a single survival. The difference is statistically highly significant (p less than 0.001). No side effects were noted from this form of immunotherapy.

Pulmonary function in tetraplegic and paraplegic patients

Dynamic spirometry and arterial blood gas analyses were performed in a series of 12 tetraplegic and 8 paraplegic patients. A marked restrictive impairment of ventilatory function was found in all patients with tetraplegia, the mean vital capacity (VC) and one second forced expiratory volume (FEV1.0) were less than half of the predicted normal values. Paraplegia was accompanied only by a slight ventilatory restriction in five patients, while three showed normal respiratory function. Signs of airways obstruction were not revealed in either group. Arterial oxygen tension was normal in all patients. With one exception, elevated PaCO2 values were not found in the series. Hyperventilation (decreased arterial PCO2) was a common finding, it was regarded to be partly due to the effects connected with the examination procedure.

Vasectomy for voluntary male sterilisation

Vasectomy was performed in 90 men in Department of Surgery II of the University Central Hospital of Helsinki during the period January 1st, 1972 to December 31st, 1973. Operation was performed on an ambulatory basis under local anesthesia. After resection and ligation of vas deferens the cut ends were placed in different fascial planes in order to avoid recanalisation. The patients were mainly in the age group 31-40 years. Seven patients had postoperative complications, scrotal hematoma being the most common. Recanalisation was found in one patient, in whom a new operation was performed. The author stresses the importance of a correct vasectomy method, histological verification of the divided vasa and most of all the postoperative sperm analysis. Two negative sperm analyses with an interval of at least 1 month must be recorded before sterility can be confirmed.

Clinical significance of primary hyperplasia of gallbladder mucosa

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