Updated evaluation and intervention of adolescent varicocele / 中华男科学杂志

Some physiological and ethical problems make it difficult to obtain semen samples from adolescents with varicocele (VC) and to directly evaluate their fertility. Therefore we can only rely on indirect methods to assess the influence of VC on the future fertility of the adolescent patients. Most of the VC adolescents may have normal semen parameters in the adulthood. Thus whether and when to intervene in adolescent VC remain a controversy in andrology. Physical examination is the most common method for screening adolescent VC and ultrasonography is very effective for its diagnosis and evaluation. Other important diagnostic indicators include the widely accepted testicular atrophy index, recently proposed peak retrograde venous flow, total testis volume, and scrotal temperature. Based on the latest literature, this review offers some proposals for the evaluation and intervention of adolescent VC.

Clinical application of the disposable circumcision suture device in male circumcision / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the safety and efficiency of the disposable circumcision suture device (DCSD) in the surgical treatment of phimosis and redundant prepuce.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We randomly assigned 249 outpatients with phimosis or redundant prepuce to be treated with DCSD (n = 129) and by conventional circumcision (CC, n = 120), respectively. Then we compared the safety and efficiency of the two strategies.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Comparisons between DCSD and CC showed that the operation time was (4.02 +/- 0.69) vs (30.8 +/- 4.05) min, blood loss was (1.07 +/- 1.29) vs (8.72 +/- 2.15) ml, intraoperative pain score was 0.81 +/- 0.81 vs 2.42 +/- 1.15, 24-hour postoperative pain score was 1.84 +/- 1.02 vs 4.99 +/- 1.36, postoperative complication rate was 13. 95% (18/129) vs 9.17% (11/120), wound healing time was (13.99 +/- 9.06) vs (17.48 +/- 3.49) d, satisfaction with the penile appearance was 98.4% (127/129) vs 95% (109/120), and treatment cost was (2215.62 +/- 17.67) vs (576.47 + 15.58) Y RMB. DCSD exhibited obvious superiority over CC for shorter operation time, less blood loss, milder intraoperative pain, sooner wound healing, and better penile appearance, but it also had a higher rate of postoperative complications (P > 0.05) and involved more treatment cost than the latter (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The disposable circumcision suture device affords ideal clinical effects and therefore deserves clinical popularization.</p>

Efficacy of interleukin-10 for experimental autoimmune prostatitis / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the efficacy of interleukin-10 (IL-10) in the treatment of experimental autoimmune prostatitis (EAP) and its effect on the expressions of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1 ) in EAP rat models.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty Wistar rats were equally and randomly divided into a control, an EAP and an IL-10 group. The controls were treated with normal saline, the EAP models were made by injection of purified prostate protein twice with immune adjuvant, and the IL-10 group included the EAP models subjected to IL-10 intervention. The infiltration of the inflammatory cells of the prostate tissue was detected by HE staining, the ultrastructure of the prostate cells and their surrounding cells observed by electron microscopy, and the levels of TNF-alpha and TGF-beta1 in the three groups determined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The EAP group showed significantly severer inflammation and higher levels of TNF-alpha and TGF-beta1 in the prostate tissue than the controls (P < 0.05). The IL-10 group exhibited significantly lessened inflammatory infiltration of the prostate tissue and decreased levels of TNF-alpha and TGF-beta as compared with the EAP group (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>IL-10 could relieve inflammatory infiltration of the prostate tissue and inhibit the expressions of TNF-alpha and TGF-beta1 in EAP rats, which is suggestive of its therapeutic efficacy for autoimmune prostatitis.</p>