Fracture of the penis. A report of two cases.

We present two cases of fracture of the penis in two young men at the extremes of the social strata the first an unemployed tailor while the other a practicing engineer. The first one was a bachelor while the other was married with children. In the first case, the fracture occurred during masturbation while in the second case it occurred during consensual intercourse with his wife on top. In the first case the fracture occurred at the base of the penis with associated rupture of the deep dorsal vein while in the second case it affected the mid-shaft with urethral rupture and blood at the tip of the penis at presentation. Both of them presented within two hours of their injuries with deformed, swollen and tender penis. Laubscher's subcoronal sleeve operation with evacuation of clots and repair of the tear with absorbable sutures to ensure a leak-proof repair was promptly performed with no complications. Both patients experienced spontaneous erection whilst in hospital even with indwelling catheter in place. The wife of the second case became pregnant six months after the repair. Counseling was successful with the engineer but was unsuccessful with the tailor-bachelor who continued with masturbation despite professional help. Though we published the first case of fracture of the penis in this centre almost a decade ago, we still found it necessary to report these new cases managed after we created awareness of this uncommon condition in our environment in order to highlight the presentations and the factors that influenced outcome.

The acute scrotum: aetiology, management and early outcome-preliminary report.

BACKGROUND: Most patients with acute scrotal pain may require urgent exploration. We determined the aetiological factors, treatment and early complications in such patients. METHODS: This was a prospective study of consecutive patients presenting with the acute scrotum at Jos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria from January 2001 to December 2002. RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients were studied with a mean age of 29.4 years (range 12 days to 80 years). Seventeen (58.6%) were 11 to 30 years old. The clinical diagnostic accuracy for testicular torsion was 75% because out of the 24 patients initially thought to have testicular torsion, 18 (62.1%), four (14.8%) and two (6.9%) had testicular torsion, epididymoorchitis and torsion of appendix testis respectively at exploration. The diagnosis in other patients was intrascrotral abscess in two (6.9%), Fournier's gangrene in one (3.4%) and haematocoele in one (3.4%). Only four (13.9%) patients presented within the first 24 hours of illness (all explored within 6 hours) and 14 (48.3%) in one to five days. Thirteen (44.6%) patients had orchidopexy while seven (24.2%) had orchidectomy as a result of testicular torsion (five) and intrascrotal abscesses (two). Testicular exploration only, with antibiotics was the treatment for patients eventually found to have epididymoorchitis, with good response. Testicular salvage rate was 72% in patients with testicular torsion. Postoperative complications observed in three patients were wound infection (two) and wound dehiscence (two). CONCLUSION: We conclude that testicular torsion is the most common cause of acute scrotum in our environment. Majority of our patients with acute scrotum present to hospital late. Health education of the public and attending physicians is required in order to reduce delay in presentation, improve diagnostic skills, testicular salvage rate and prognosis.