Priapism: A rare urologic emergency

A 21-year old male presented with sustained painful erection for one day and was incidentally found to have Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. Initial conservative management failed to cause detumescence until patient underwent emergency surgery. Quakels operation proved to be simple and efficient procedure. Patient presently is undergoing chemotherapy and showed signs of potency. (Author)

Use of intra-operative ultrasound scanning in the localization of renal calculi

Fifty-one patients (57 renal units) diagnosed to have multiple nephrolithiases (3 or more stones in one kidney) who underwent open surgery were included in this study. These patients were randomized into two groups. The first group had the benefit of intra-operative ultrasound scanning to aid in the localization and removal of all calculi while the other set served as a control group. Post-operatively, all patients underwent radiography and/or ultrasonography to check for residual stones. Using Chi-square tests, the results showed a significantly higher stone-free rate in the ultrasound group (23 out of 27 renal units or 85%) than in the control group (17 out of renal units or 56%). The authors recommend that ultrasonography be used routinely for all patients with multiple nephrolithiasis in whom intra-operative localization and removal of calculi is expected to be difficult.

Alprostadil (PGE) dose response study in patients with erectile dysfunction

One hundred five male patients aged 24-76 with erectile dysfunction of a least 4 months were started on graduated doses of alpostradil PGE, beginning at 1.5 mcg until an optimal dose or a maximum of 50 mcg was achieved. Among the 102 subjects who completed the study, 98 reached a mean optimal dose of 10 mcg. Patients with psychogenic etiology required the lowest doses while dose with vascular etiology required higher doses. The mean minimal effective dose was 11 mcg. Mean latency period at the optimal effective dose was 10 minutes while the mean duration of erection was 53.1 minutes. Patients who were able to achieve a minimal response were likewise able to achieve an optimal response. Efficacy of alpostradil in producing a full erection was 93.3%.(Author)