[Intracavernous auto-injection of prostaglandin E1 for diagnosis and treatment of erectile dysfunction].

34 impotent patients were offered auto-injection therapy and all except 2 began treatment. Prostaglandin E1 (PGE) was used regularly for a mean of 8.6 months (range 1-17). The onset of erection was 5-30 min (mean 11.4) after injection and it lasted at least 30 min (mean 106.2 min). An erection of more than 6 hrs was observed in only 2 patients. There have been no instances of cavernous fibrosis, chemical priapism or systemic reactions. The most common adverse effect was penile pain after injection. It was mild to moderate in 4 patients (11.7%), and in only 1 was it severe enough to require stopping treatment. Overall, intracavernous injection of PGE appears to be safe, effective treatment for impotence without side-effects other than pain after injection in a few.

Local microwave hyperthermia in the treatment of carcinoma of the prostate.

The clinical electromagnetic hyperthermia system has been in use at the Kaplan Hospital since 1980, for treating patients with hyperthermia combined with radio- or chemotherapy. For prostatic tumors, hyperthermia at 43 degrees C is achieved in the prostatic mass using microwaves of 2.45 GHz, with simultaneous cooling of the rectal mucosa and the rectal wall. Thirty-two patients with carcinoma of the prostate have been treated: 4 with heat alone, 20 with hyperthermia combined with radiotherapy, and 8 with hyperthermia combined with hormonal therapy. Follow-up was carried out up to 34 months. Objective local tumor regression was achieved in 3 out of 4 patients treated by heat alone, but the patients relapsed after 6 months. All the 20 patients treated with combined hyperthermia and radiotherapy responded to treatment. Patients treated with combined hyperthermia and hormone therapy responded locally to treatment but died of their metastatic disease, or of unrelated diseases with a follow-up period up to 31 months. Hyperthermia did not increase morbidity beyond that expected for radiation therapy.

Localized deep microwave hyperthermia in the treatment of poor operative risk patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Non-invasive localized deep microwave hyperthermia was applied as an alternative treatment to surgery in 29 patients with contraindications for prostatectomy. Patients were treated twice weekly, on Mondays and Thursdays, for 1 hour, without sedation on an outpatient basis. All patients tolerated treatment well without secondary effects. The results indicate that localized deep microwave hyperthermia applied by this method is safe and effective in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.