Testicular prosthesis: Patient satisfaction and sexual dysfunctions in testis cancer survivors.

PURPOSE: We studied patient satisfaction about sexual activity after prosthesis implantation using validated questionnaires with the aim to discover if testicular prosthesis could be responsible of sexual dysfunctions (erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated a total of 67 men who underwent radical orchiectomy for testicular cancer and a silicon testicular prosthesis implantation from January 2008 to June 2014 at our Hospital. These patients completed 5 validated questionnaires the day before orchiectomy and 6 months after surgery: the International Index of Erectile Function 5 (IIEF5), the Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool (PEDT), the Body Exposure during Sexual Activities Questionnaire (BESAQ), the Body-Esteem Scale and the Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale. We also evaluated 6 months after surgery any defects of the prosthesis complained by the patients. RESULTS: The questionnaires completed by patients didn't show statistically significant changes for erectile dysfunction (p > 0.05) and premature ejaculation (p > 0.05). On the contrary the psychological questionnaires showed statistically significant change for the BESAQ (p < 0.001) and the Body Esteem Scale (p < 0.001), but not for the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (p > 0,05). A total of 15 patients (22.37%) were dissatisfied about the prosthesis: the most frequent complaint (8 patients; 11.94%) was that the prosthesis was firmer than the normal testis. CONCLUSIONS: Testicular prosthesis implantation is a safe surgical procedure that should be always proposed before orchiectomy for cancer of the testis. The defects complained by patients with testicular prosthesis are few, they don't influence sexual activity and they aren't able to cause erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation.

Adenomatous hyperplasia of the rete testis: A rare intrascrotal lesion managed with limited testicular excision.

INTRODUCTION: Testicular cancer is one of the most frequent in young men and its incidence is increasing in recent years because of incidental finding during routine ultrasound exams. Adenomatous hyperplasia of the rete testis is one of the benign and rare pathological types incidentally detected and very few cases are described in the literature. CASE REPORT: A 40 years old man come to our attention for a balanoposthitis without testicular pain. During andrological examination we performed palpation of the testes and we noticed a palpable nodule of hard consistency in the left testicle. We then performed an ultrasound exam of the testis which highlighted the presence of an intra-didymus neoformation with diameters of 1.2 x 1.6 cm and with the presence of cysts inside. We also performed blood tests to check tumor markers alpha fetoprotein, beta hCG and LDH which resulted inside the normal range. We then conducted a chest and abdomen CT scan that showed no pathological elements. Therefore, as we suspected that this tumor was benign, we performed an enucleation of the neoplasm. The definitive histological examination revealed the presence of dilated ducts lined with epithelial cubic-columnar cells with clear cytoplasm rich in glycogen and the pathologist so concluded that the tumor could be classified as adenomatous hyperplasia of the rete testis. At three months of follow up, the patient doesn't have any recurrent lesion to either testicles. DISCUSSION: Adenomatous hyperplasia of the rete testis is a very rare intrascrotal lesion. This histological type is the most frequent between benign lesion of the ovary, but few works in literature reported this histological type in the male gonad and, in most of these works, authors described these lesion at epididymis. CONCLUSION: We believe that a conservative approach must be considered mandatory in case of testicular lesions 1.5 cm in diameter. A radical approach might have alterate fertility of the patient and also have caused psychological trauma more than an enucleation. However a longer follow up is needed to understand if this was the right decision for the oncological point of view.

Explorative surgery for acute scrotal pain: The importance of patient age, side affected, time to surgery and surgeon.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Testicular torsion must be diagnosed quickly and accurately. The delay of the diagnosis and the subsequent delay of surgery may lead to loss testicular viability and orchidectomy. Aim of our retrospective evaluation was to define which element should be considered as major support to the clinician in distinguishing spermatic cord torsion from the other diseases mimicking this clinical emergency requiring surgical exploration. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all clinical and instrumental data of emergency scrotal exploration performed for acute scrotal pain at two different Urological Department in a 10 year period. Results of surgical exploration represented the four diagnostic categories in which patients were divided for statistical evaluation. We evaluated the relationship between diagnosis performed by testicular surgical exploration and the all clinical data available including surgeon involved in the procedures. RESULTS: A total of 220 explorative scrotal surgery were considered. We divided the cases in 4 categories according to the diagnostic results of each surgical procedure. Of all, spermatic cord torsion was diagnosed in 45% (99/220). The total testis salvage rate was of 78.8%. The patients with a diagnosis of spermatic cord torsion were older than patients with appendix torsion (15 vs 11 years in mean). When the affected side was the left, the probability to have a diagnosis of spermatic cord torsion was higher than the right side [χ2 (2, N = 218) = 11.77, p < 0.01]. Time elapsing between onset of symptoms and testicular salvagewas significantly lower even than in case of appendix torsion/necrosis (p < .0001), and of others pathologies diagnosed (p = .0383). CONCLUSION: In case of spermatic cord torsion, in addition to the clinical data, patient age and left side affected may represent an independent diagnostic predicting factor. The time elapsing between onset of symptoms and explorative surgery remain the only still prognostic factor for testicular viability.

Testicular microlithiasis and dyspermia: is there any correlation?

BACKGROUND: Testicular microlithiasis (MT) is an uncommon sonographic finding (prevalence in the literature: 0.7 to 6%). Several studies have highlighted its possible correlation with an increased risk of testicular cancer, but few studies have investigated its possible link with dyspermia. OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study was to investigate in our series the number of patients with microlithiasis, diagnosed by ultrasound, and compare the quality of their sperm with that of patients in a control group with normal testicular ultrasound exam. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed 277 consecutive testicular ultrasound examinations from January 2012 to July 2012. Among all these, we selected 86 patients that showed no pathological elements at echography and 11 patients affected by MT, to one or both testicles. Each patient was also submitted to a short-term semen analysis using the WHO2010 parameters for sperm evaluation. RESULTS: Among 11 patients with MT, 7 (63.63%) were dyspermic and 4 (36.36%) were normospermic. Among the 86 patients with normal testicular ultrasound 51 (59.3%) were dyspermic, 4 (4.65%) were azoospermic, while the remaining 31 (36.05%) were normospermic. Comparing the results of the two groups we obtained an odds ratio of 0.99 (95% CI: 0.27 to 3.64, p: 0.98). CONCLUSIONS: This study, although preliminary, with a low number of participants, shows that sperm quality is not affected by the presence of testicular microlithiasis, because the results of spermiograms are almost comparable between the two groups.

Comparison of tamsulosin vs tamsulosin/sildenafil effectiveness in the treatment of erectile dysfunction in patients affected by type III chronic prostatitis.

AIM: We evaluated the effectiveness of tamsulosin monotherapy versus tamsulosin plus sildenafil combination therapy on erectile dysfunction (ED) in young patients with type III chronic prostatitis and ED by using symptom score scales. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 44 male patients were divided into 2 groups: the first group (20 patients) was treated with tamsulosin 0,4 mg monotherapy and the second one 24 patients) was treated with tamsulosin 0,4 mg plus sildenafil 50 mg combination therapy. "International Prostate Symptom Score, "National Institute of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index" (NIH-CPSI) and "International Index of Erectile Function" (IIEF-5) were investigated in each group of patients, and scores calculated during the first medical examination. Both groups were treated with tamsulosin once daily for 60 days, while sildenafil 50 mg was given on demand (at least 2 times per week) for 60 days. During the second medical examination IPSS, NIH-CPSI and IIEF-5 scores were analyzed once more. Afterwards, the alterations of scores among medical examinations in each group and between both groups were statistically compared. RESULTS: The age average of the 44 cases included was 32.04 3.15 years. Both groups present a statistically significant decrease, between the first and the second medical examination, in IPSS, NIH-CPSI scores and statistically significant increase in IIEF-5 score. In addition, there is no statistically significant difference, in all scores, between mono and combination therapy. CONCLUSIONS: tamsulosin monotherapy, as well as a combination therapy (tamsulosin plus sildenafil) has an improving effect on symptoms and on ED in patients with type III prostatitis. In the near future alpha-blockers monotherapy could be used in the treatment of chronic prostatitis and ED cases instead of phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors combination therapy.

Comparison between WHO (World Health Organization) 2010 and WHO 1999 parameters for semen analysis - interpretation of 529 consecutive samples.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify how many men with normal semen according to WHO (WHO - World Health Organization) 1999 criteria, should be considered with abnormal semen according to 2010 criteria and vice versa; to study which parameter of volume, concentration, motility and morphology is the most responsible of this change. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied, using WHO 1999 parameters, 529 consecutive semen samples from 427 men, collected in our Department from January 2008 to December 2009, then we re-evaluated those results using WHO 2010 parameters; we also studied each parameter to understand how changed the classification from normal (defined normal by all parameters) to abnormal (defined abnormal by at least one parameter) using the two WHO criteria. RESULTS: 3 men (0.56%) were azoospermic. Among the remaining 526 samples, 199 (37.83%) were considered normal and 246 (46.76%) abnormal both according to WHO 1999 and WHO 2010 criteria; we found that none of the samples classified normal according to the previous criteria was classified abnormal according the more recent criteria, while 82 (15.58%) evaluated as abnormal according 1999 criteria changed to normal according 2010 criteria. The concordance between 1999 and 2010 evaluation was 84.44%. CONCLUSIONS: In this study we noted that the changes from WHO 1999 to WHO 2010 criteria did not modify the interpretation of semen quality, because comparing the two classifications we demonstrated that there is a substantial agreement, considering the three parameters (count, motility and morphology) all together, and also considering each single parameter. Anyhow, almost 16% of the patients considered infertile according to the old criteria, should be evaluated normal by the new classification and they should not need any treatment for infertility.

Transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) and TRUS-biopsy accuracy in potential candidates for PRIAS active surveillance protocol.

AIM: Evaluate the transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) and TRUS-guided Biopsy (TRUS-Bx) accuracy in patients with low risk prostate cancer (PCA) that were potential candidate for PRIAS active surveillance (AS) protocol but underwent to immediate radical prostatectomy (RP). METHODS: 616 men were extracted from our institutional RP database. We selected the patients who met PRIAS inclusion criteria. The primary outcome was to evaluate the positive predictive value (PPV) and the specificity of suspected lesions at TRUS. The secondary outcome was to evaluate the TRUS-Bx accuracy in term of pathological upstaging and pathological upgrading with respect of RP specimen pathology report. RESULTS: 147 men of 616 (23.8%) in our RP database met PRIAS criteria; in this group we found 66 suspected lesions at TRUS examination (66/147: PPV 44.8%). Prostate cancer was really present in the biopsy specimen in only 32/66 of suspected lesions; in 28/66 the suspect lesion at TRUS was in the same position of the index lesion at final pathology. TRUS/biopsy specificity was 48% and TRUS/surgical specimen specificity 39%. TRUS-Bx staging accuracy: upgrading between biopsy and RP was recorded in 57/147 (38%) whereas 30/147 (20%) were upstaged on final pathology up to N1. CONCLUSIONS: TRUS and TRUS-Bx are insufficient tools to detect the grade, the location and the extent of PCA. New emerging techniques, such as US-MRI fusion biopsy and 3D template-guided transperineal saturation biopsy are promising to minimize the risk of misclassification and therefore to better select the best option of treatment (radical treatments or focal therapies or active surveillance) in each patient with low risk prostate cancer.

[Association between trauma and cancer of the testis: the importance of self-palpation of the testis for the early detection: two case reports]. / Associazione trauma-cancro del testicolo: l'autopalpazione nella diagnosi precoce; due casi clinici.

INTRODUCTION: Cancer of the testis is not always early detected and recognised, both by the physician and by the patient: sometimes physicians do not make an accurate genitals exam while patients often underestimate this problem. CASE REPORTS: Case I: 42-year-old man accepted from another hospital's Emergency, because of pain and edema of the right testis after a recent trauma on the gonad. At US, evidence of increased volume of the right testis with a large intraparenchymal hematoma. The markers were higher than normal. We performed a right orchiecthomy. The pathologist noted the presence of a mixed cancer of the testis (95% embryonal, 5% seminoma). Case II: 49-year-old man with hematuria, accepted from Emergency. The abdominal US revealed the presence of a voluminous neoformation (diameter of 12 cm) of the right kidney with neoplastic thrombosis of the right kidney vein. At the general physical exam, we detected the presence of an increased right testis, that at the US appared to be suspicious for cancer. Tumor markers were normal with the exception of αFP. We performed right nephro-adrenalectomy, right orchiectomy and removal of local nodes. The definitive histological examination demonstrated the presence of a seminoma of the testis and papillary carcinoma of the kidney with node metastasis. DISCUSSION: Current studies showed an association between trauma and cancer of the testis, even if some authors did not find this association because they consider that patients with trauma undergo US and in that occasion cancer is incidentally detected. CONCLUSIONS: The association between trauma and cancer of the testis is controversial in current studies. Furthermore screening for the cancer of the testis does not seem to be useful, even if the self- and the physician's palpation of the testis seem to be very important because in these two cases they should allow the early detection of the condition, with a resulting better prognosis.

[Repeated injection of botulinum toxin a in patients with neurogenic bladder: our experience]. / Iniezioni ripetute di tossina botulinica a in pazienti con vescica neurologica: la nostra esperienza.

BACKGROUND: In literature, the majority of data about treatment with botulinum toxin A are based on the results of a single treatment. We evaluate the safety and effectiveness in the medium term of the use of botulinum toxin type A in patients with neurogenic bladder, taking into consideration the clinical and urodynamic parameters, particularly in cases with repeated injections. METHODS: 25 patients were divided into 2 groups: a first group of patients with detrusor overactivity, and a second with overactive sphincter. We performed 20-30 injections (Dysport), at a dose ranging between 500 and 1000 U. The first group was treated with infiltration in the detrusor and in the detrusor and trigone. The second group received injections in the perisphinteric zone, and in the perisphinteric zone and bladder neck. Of the 25 patients, 12 received a retreatment: the first group of patients kept a daily voiding diary to record the number of bladder emptying, incontinence episodes, nycturia and urgency of urination. The urodynamic parameters and symptoms pre-treatment and 4 months after the treatment were compared in both groups. RESULTS: In the first group there were significant changes in the cystometric capacity, maximum detrusor pressure, and in the post-void residual urine 4 months after treatment. These patients were satisfied with the treatment because of the improvement of incontinence and episodes of urgency. In 9 out of 15 retreated patients, the therapeutic results were similar to the first treatment. The second group reported significant improvements in maximum urinary flow rate, post-void residual urine and maximum detrusor pressure. 3 out of 10 patients were retreated even in this group; the new therapeutic results were similar to the first treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results in 25 patients with neurogenic bladder showed a concordance with the literature data. The treatment of detrusor and sphincter neurogenic overactivity with botulinum toxin A is effective and safe. Also in the 12 patients with repeated injection treatment, it has been proven safe and effective.

Pathogenic and Diagnostic Potential of BLCA-1 and BLCA-4 Nuclear Proteins in Urothelial Cell Carcinoma of Human Bladder.

Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder is one of the most common malignancies of genitourinary tract. Patients with bladder cancer need a life-long surveillance, directly due to the relatively high recurrence rate of this tumor. The use of cystoscopy represents the gold standard for the followup of previously treated patients. Nevertheless, several factors, including cost and invasiveness, render cystoscopy not ideal for routine controls. Advances in the identification of specific alterations in the nuclear structure of bladder cancer cells have opened novel diagnostic landscapes. The members of nuclear matrix protein family BLCA-1 and BLCA-4, are currently under evaluation as bladder cancer urinary markers. They are involved in tumour cell proliferation, survival, and angiogenesis. In this paper, we illustrate the role of BLCA-1 and BLCA-4 in bladder carcinogenesis and their potential exploitation as biomarkers in this cancer.

[Isolated hydatid cyst of the kidney]. / Fistola cutanea da cisti idatidea isolata del rene: case report.

BACKGROUND: A hydatid cyst is a parasitic disease caused by the tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus. Kidney involvement represents 4% of all cases, and is rare compared to that in the liver or lung, even more as an isolated site of infection. We present a case report of a woman with septic status, cutaneous fistula and a renal cystic mass revealed to be a solitary hydatid cyst of the kidney. METHODS: A 60-year-old woman was referred acutely by another hospital to our department because of septic fever, cutaneous lumbar fistula and a left kidney cystic mass of 10 x 8 cm. We suspected a renal abscess and the patient underwent immediate left nephrectomy. RESULTS: We performed an extraperitoneal nephrectomy with a lumbar access under the 12th rib with complete resection of the fistula. The histopathological examination revealed it to be a hydatid cyst involving 2/3 of the kidney. After surgery a medical therapy with albendazol was administrated for 6 months, and the patient did not have any other localization 24 months after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: An isolated renal hydatid cyst presenting as cutaneous fistula with a septic status is a very rare condition. A pre-surgical diagnosis is not always possible as in this case. The surgical therapy (nephron-sparing or radical) is the key of the success and a medical therapy after surgery is recommended to prevent other localizations of this parasitic disease.