Clinical correlates of enlarged prostate size in subjects with sexual dysfunction

Penile Erection Morphometry: The Need for a Novel Approach

For many males, sexual function holds significant value in determining their quality of life. Despite the importance of male erectile function, no quantitative method to measure it accurately is currently available. Standardized assessment methods such as RigiScan™, International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5), and the stamp test are used to evaluate sexual function, but those methods cannot repetitively and quantitatively measure erectile function. Only direct measurement can quantitatively assess the shape of an erect penis. This paper presents the essential requirements for developing an ideal measurement method for penile erection. It also introduces current approaches for diagnosing male sexual function and reviews ongoing research to quantitatively measure erectile function. The paper further summarizes and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of each method with respect to the essential requirements. Finally, the paper discusses the future direction toward the development of Penile Erection Morphometry.

Non-medical and non-invasive interventions for erectile dysfunction in men with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A scoping review

Background

Erectile dysfunction (ED) often affects men with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) due to microvascular damage. However, medical interventions are not always appropriate.

Aim

This scoping review aimed to answer the following question: What evidence is available about the effects of non-medical and non-invasive healthcare interventions to improve ED in men with T2DM?

Method

Potential studies were collected from the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature via EBSCO, Embase via Ovid, MEDLINE via Ovid, Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, and PsycINFO via Ovid.

Findings

From 2,611 identified titles, 17 studies, including 11 interventional and 6 observational studies, were included. Four main alternatives to medical interventions were identified from the included studies. Amongst these, four studies recommended patient education on lifestyle modification, twelve studies encouraged dietary changes and physical activities, two studies emphasized the use of vacuum erectile device, and three studies suggested the application of low-intensity extracorporeal shockwave therapy by healthcare professionals.

Discussion

Dietary modification and physical activities were promoted as effective interventions to help maintaining the erectile function in men with T2DM. Several methods of patient education were identified as the approach to facilitate lifestyle modification in men with T2DM-associated ED. The positive outcomes of this review support early ED screening to help preventing T2DM complications such as ED in men. Further, T2DM management is a shared responsibility between the men and healthcare professionals. Despite the success of Vacuum Erectile Device and Low-intensity Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy in regaining erectile function, further research is needed in this area based on the recommendations of the American Urological Association. Moreover, the health and quality of life of men with T2DM must be improved.

Role of varicocele sclerotherapy in the management of benign prostatic hyperplasia and its associated lower urinary tract symptoms (pilot study)

Background

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is inescapable with aging and can cause lower urinary tract symptoms, worsening the quality of life. New pathophysiologic mechanisms of BPH development are currently under study to modulate its management. The valvular destruction of the spermatic veins (varicoceles development) incurs a testicular-prostatic hydrostatic pressure gradient, which conveys free undiluted testosterone to the prostate via a testicular-prostatic backdoor passage. Subsequently, prostatic congestion and androgen-dependent prostatic hyperplasia occur resulting in lower urinary symptoms development. The purpose of our study is to detect the effect of testicular venous sclerotherapy on the prostatic enlargement and the related urinary symptoms.

Results

Our single-arm interventional study included 36 patients with an age range of 40–80 years. The patients complained of urinary symptoms and had prostatomegaly with varicoceles by sonography. A median international prostatic symptom score (IPSS) of 19 and a quality of life (QoL) score ranging (3–6) reflected the severity of the urinary symptoms. Venography showed reflux in all cannulated spermatic veins with subsequent sclerotherapy on the left side and bilaterally in 80.6% and 11.1% of the patients, respectively. The technical and clinical success rates reached 91.7% and 83.3%, respectively, with a statistically significant reduction in the IPSS and QoL scores. We observed a statistically insignificant improvement in the sexual satisfaction, prostatic volumes, post-void residual volumes, and PSA levels. Minimal self-limiting complications occurred with an overall rate of 38.9%. Only 16.66% of cases needed further surgery, while the rest had sufficient symptomatic relief post sclerotherapy.

Conclusion

Varicoceles sclerotherapy can be employed to resolve the testicular venous insufficiency and mitigate the severity of the prostatic-related urological symptoms in middle-aged and elderly men, so varicoceles can be considered a confounding variable in the development of the prostatic-related lower urinary tract symptoms.

Global Research Trends on Prostate Diseases and Erectile Dysfunction: A Bibliometric and Visualized Study

Objectives

To identify the cooperation of authors, countries, institutions and explore the hot topics’ prospects regarding research of prostate diseases and erectile dysfunction (ED).

Methods

Publications on research of prostate diseases and ED were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Bibliometric analyses were performed using VOSviewer and CiteSpace software. Network maps were generated to evaluate the collaborations between different authors, countries, institutions, and keywords.

Results

A total of 2,599 articles related to study of prostate diseases and ED were identified. We observed gradually increasing in the number of publications from 1998 to 2016, and the trend was to be relatively stable in the past 3 years. Journal of Sexual Medicine (243 papers) owned the highest number of publications and Journal of Urology was the most co-cited journal. Mulhall John P (52 papers) was the top most productive authors and Mcvary Kebin T with the largest numbers of citations (1,589 co-citations) during the past decades. There were active collaborations among the top authors. The USA was the leading contributor in this field with 1,078 papers. Active cooperation between countries and between institutions was observed. The main hot topics included matters related to erectile dysfunction, prostate cancer, quality-of-life, radical prostatectomy, sexual function, and BPH.

Conclusion

Bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the development of scientific literature, allowing relevant authors and research teams to recognize the current research status in this field and at the same time provide a reference for formulating future research directions.

Correlation Between Testosterone Replacement Treatment and Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are a cluster of voiding symptoms, such as weak stream, hesitancy, intermittency, urinary frequency, urgency, and nocturia. LUTS are frequent in elderly men and it considered the ultimate clinical symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia. With aging, male hypogonadism is increased which is defined as decreased ability of the testes to produce sperm and sex steroids because of a pituitary/hypothalamic, or testicular deficiency. In academic andrology associations, the term "male hypogonadism" is commonly used to categorize testosterone deficiency. Testosterone deficiency syndrome (TDS) is defined as a decrease in serum testosterone accompanied by symptoms such as libido decrease, depressive disorder, erectile dysfunction, and fatigue. Although the mechanism about testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT) effects on men with hypogonadism is not yet identified, TRT has been shown to effectively relieve the symptoms of TDS as well as LUTS by several studies. Although the present review demonstrates the effectiveness and safety of TRT in men with TDS by prior studies, future large scale of clinical trials should be conducted to present more high-quality evidence to clinicians and patients.

Testosterone and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

INTRODUCTION

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are frequent in aging. Nonetheless, their pathogenesis is largely unknown. The androgen dependence of the first phases of prostate development have inspired the historical view that higher testosterone (T) may be involved in BPH occurrence; however, recent evidence suggests a different scenario.

AIM

To review the available knowledge on the pathogenesis of BPH particularly concerning the role of T and the possible connections with metabolic impairments.

METHODS

Relevant records were retrieved by an extensive search in Medline, including the following keywords ("testosterone"[MeSH Terms] OR "testosterone"[All Fields]) AND ("prostatic hyperplasia"[MeSH Terms] OR ("prostatic"[All Fields] AND "hyperplasia"[All Fields]) OR "prostatic hyperplasia"[All Fields] OR ("benign"[All Fields] AND "prostatic"[All Fields] AND "hyperplasia"[All Fields]) OR "benign prostatic hyperplasia"[All Fields]). There were no limitations in terms of publication date or study design.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Preclinical and clinical studies have been reported, with special emphasis on our contribution and interpretation.

RESULTS

Inflammation is a key aspect of BPH development. Along with infectious agents, prostate inflammation can be triggered by metabolic stimuli, such as dyslipidemia, an important component of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Low T and hyperestrogenism frequently occur in MetS. Mounting evidence shows that low, rather than high, T and hyperestrogenism may favor prostate inflammation. Considering these data as a whole, we postulate that BPH is the result of the action of multiple factors, which reinforce their mutual detrimental effects.

CONCLUSION

T is not detrimental for the prostate, and treating hypogonadism could even produce relief from LUTS and limit prostatic inflammation, which generates and maintains the process leading to BPH. Rastrelli G, Vignozzi L, Corona G, et al. Testosterone and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. Sex Med Rev 2019;7:259-271.

Benign prostatic enlargement can be influenced by metabolic profile: results of a multicenter prospective study

Background

In last years Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) has been closely associated to Benign Prostatic Enlargement (BPE) Aim of our study is to evaluate the effect of MetS and each single MetS parameter on prostate growth in men surgically treated for BPE.

Methods

Overall, 379 men were prospectively enrolled in two tertiary referral centers. Calculated prostate volume (PV) was measured with transrectal US defining the antero-posterior (AP), the cranio-caudal (CC) and the latero-lateral (LL) diameters through the ellipsoid formula, while raw PV was calculated by suprapubic US. MetS was defined according to the NCEP-ATPIII criteria.

Results

One-hundred and forty men (36.9%) were affected by MetS. The number of MetS parameters (0 to 5) and the presence of MetS were correlated with the calculated PV. The number of MetS parameters were also directly related to increasing prostate diameters. At the binary logistic regression, MetS resulted associated to high (>60 cc) raw and calculated PV. Moreover, multivariate analysis suggested that AP diameter was mainly correlated with HDL cholesterol (r:-0.3103, p = 0.002) CC diameter with triglycerides (r:-0.191, p = 0.050) and LL diameter with systolic blood pressure (r:0.154, p = 0.044). However, at the binary logistic regression, only low HDL Cholesterol was the main determinant for the enlargement of all diameters and consequently of the whole PV.

Conclusions

Metabolic factors, specially dyslipidemia, could play a central role in the pathogenesis and progression of BPE/LUTS. Interventional studies are needed to evaluate the impact of early treatment of dyslipidemia on progression of LUTS/BPH.

Impact of prostate volume on erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation

We evaluated the impact of total prostate volume (TPV) on the international index of erectile function-5 (IIEF) and the premature ejaculation diagnostic tool (PEDT). A cross-sectional study was conducted that included 8336 men who had participated in a health examination. PEDT, IIEF and transrectal ultrasonography were used. A full metabolic work-up and serum testosterone level checks were also performed. The median age of participants was 51.0 years. In total, 40.1% had IIEF scores ≤16. Additionally, 24.7% were classified as demonstrating premature ejaculation (PE) (PEDT > 10). The severity of erectile dysfunction (ED) significantly increased with the TPV (p trend < 0.001). After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the odds ratio (OR) for IIEF scores ≤ 16 significantly increased in the group with TPVs of 30-39 cm(3) and the group with TPVs ≥ 40 cm(3) compared with the group with TPVs ≤ 19 cm(3) (TPV 30-39 cm(3), OR: 1.204, 95% confidence interval: 1.034-1.403; TPV ≥ 40 cm(3), OR: 1.326: 95% confidence interval: 1.051-1.733) and this relationship was maintained after adjusting for propensity score (TPV ≥ 30 cm(3), OR: 1.138: 95% confidence interval: 1.012-1.280). However, neither PEDT nor PE was correlated with TPV. In conclusion, TPV is significantly and independently correlated with IIEF but not with PEDT. Future investigations should explore the temporal relationship between TPV and ED.

Vascular and Chronological Age in Subjects with Erectile Dysfunction: A Cross-Sectional Study

INTRODUCTION

Vascular age, as derived from the SCORE project algorithm for cardiovascular (CV) risk estimation, is an effective way for communicating CV risk. However, studies on its clinical correlates are scanty.

AIM

To evaluate if the difference between vascular and chronological age (Δage), in a population of subjects with erectile dysfunction (ED), can identify men with a worse risk profile.

METHODS

A consecutive series of 2,853 male patients attending the outpatient clinic for erectile dysfunction (ED) for the first time was retrospectively studied. Among them, 85.4% (n = 2,437) were free of previous MACE and were analyzed.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Several clinical, biochemical, and penile color Doppler parameters were studied. Vascular age was derived from the SCORE project algorithm, and the Δage was considered.

RESULTS

Higher Δage is associated with several conventional (family history of CV diseases, hyperglycemia, elevated triglycerides, and increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome) and unconventional (severity of ED, frequency of sexual activity, alcohol abuse, lower education level, fatherhood, extramarital affairs, compensated hypogonadism, and low prolactin levels) risk factors. Δage is inversely related to penile color Doppler parameters, including flaccid and dynamic peak systolic velocity and flaccid acceleration (β = -0.125, -0.113, and -0.134, respectively, all P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

In subjects referring for ED without a personal history of CV events, Δage is associated with an adverse cardio-metabolic profile and worse penile color Doppler ultrasound parameters. Δage provides a simple method for identifying high-risk men that must undergo significant modification in their lifestyle and risk factors. In addition, it can be considered a simple, inexpensive, and safe surrogate marker of penile arterial damage.