[Epidemiological survey of sexually transmitted male urethritis in Kyoto Prefecture].

The data of sexually transmitted urethritis in males have been collected at 24 institutes in Kyoto Prefecture since October, 2002. The data collected from January to December in 2004 are summarized herein. A total of 1,275 patients were diagnosed with urethritis during this period. Microbiological examinations isolated Neisseria gonorrhoeae alone in 368 (29%), Chlamydia tracomatis alone in 336 (26%), both in 85 (7%), and others in 453 (36%). Male patients under 20 years old tended to have Chlamydial urethritis, alone or combined with gonococcal infection, and had a predominant infectious source, a non-commercial-sexual-worker female partner, suggesting a profound problem in sexual life of adolescents. The urologist preferred to use quinolones as the first therapeutic modality against male urethritis. However, drug resistance of N. gonorrhoeae, especially against quinolones, has rapidly progressed, which was also observed by a sensitivity examination test. Antibiotics should be used adequately against male urethrits according to the recent guidelines.

[Intravesical instillation of doxorubicin or epirubicin for chemoprophylaxis of superficial bladder cancer--the fifth study of the Japanese Urological Cancer Research Group for Adriamycin/Farumorubicin].

A total of 465 patients with primary and multiple or recurrent, stages Ta and T1 superficial bladder cancer were included in this randomized multicenter trial to compare the prophylactic effect by 17 times instillation of 40 mg doxorubicin or 40 mg epirubicin with no instillation after transurethral resection of tumor(s). The primary endpoint was first recurrence after transurethral resection. Endoscopic examination as well as urinary cytology was performed in each case every three months. It became evident that the recurrence rate in the doxorubicin or epirubicin instillation arm was lower that in the no instillation arm. Toxicity was mainly restricted to bladder irritation in about 10% of patients in each instillation arm.

Partial androgen insensitivity syndrome with thermolability in the androgen receptor.

We report case of partial androgen insensitivity syndrome in a 12-year-old boy referred to our clinic complaining of bilateral gynecomastia and left undescended testicle. Laparoscopy for undescended testicle and bilateral mastectomy were performed, and the left testicle was absent. When skin fibroblasts of the scrotum obtained during surgery were cultured to analyse the androgen receptors, a slight thermolability was observed. Genomic examination of the androgen receptor gene could not detect any mutations.

Clinical utility of ursodeoxycholic acid in preventing flutamide-induced hepatopathy in patients with prostate cancer: a preliminary study.

BACKGROUND: The present study was designed to ascertain retrospectively the validity of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in the treatment of prostate cancer in terms of prophylactic effects on the occurrence of flutamide-induced hepatopathy in a large number of patients surveyed in a multi-center cooperative study. METHODS: One hundred and eighty-one patients (74.1 +/- 4.9 years) with prostate cancer treated with flutamide with (n = 70) or without (n = 111) UDCA were retrospectively evaluated and the occurrence of hepatopathy was compared between these two patient groups. RESULTS: Between patients treated with UDCA and those without it, no significant differences were noted in age, clinical stage, grade, duration of flutamide administration and serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels before treatment. However, there were significant differences in the presence or absence of previous treatments and treatments used together with flutamide. The incidence of hepatopathy was 11.4% (8/70) in patients with UDCA and 32.4% (36/111) in those without it, showing a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). The hepatopathy-free rate obtained by the Kaplan-Meier method was also significantly higher in patients with UDCA (88.4% 1 year following flutamide administration) than that in those without it (59.6%) (P < 0.005). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that UDCA has a prophylactic effect against flutamide-induced hepatopathy in patients with prostate cancer.