Peyronie's disease: prevalence and association with cigarette smoking. A multicenter population-based study in men aged 50-69 years.

OBJECTIVES: We present a multicenter, population-based epidemiological survey aimed at assessing the prevalence of Peyronie's disease (PD) and its potential risk factors in the general population. METHODS: In each of the ten centers throughout Italy, a uroandrologist contacted all the men in the age range 50-69 years registered with a general practitioner (GP). The subjects recruited were evaluated on the basis of their medical history, including alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking. The following questionnaires were administered: IIEF, IIPSS symptom score, premature ejaculation and PD. RESULTS: All the subjects registered with a GP were invited to participate in the study. Of the 1,180 subjects, 647 (53%) entered over survey. In this population, 46 cases of PD were identified, accounting for a prevalence of 7.1%. The prevalence rate increased with age even if the trend is not statistically significant. The multivariate analysis showed a significant correlation between cigarette smoking and PD, with an odds ratio (OR) of 4.6 (CL 95%) confidence limit 1.506- 14.287). Smoking as single variable had an OR of 7.2 (95% CL 2.34-24.93). No significant association was observed between PD and the other variables such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension and alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: PD is a much more frequent condition in the general population than previously reported. According to our results, cigarette smoking may be considered a risk factor for developing PD. If further and more targeted studies confirm that giving up smoking may reduce the risk of developing PD, then there will be new prospects for primary and secondary prevention and for curbing the progression of the disease.

Norfloxacin concentrations in seminal plasma measured by HPLC.

Eighteen healthy volunteers aged 22 to 37 (average 30.44 +/- 4.11 years) seeking fertility evaluation at the Fertility and Sterility Centre of the Medical Clinic of the University of L'Aquila Medical School were studied for norfloxacin concentrations in serum, urine and seminal plasma 14-15 h after taking two 400 mg doses of the drug. The extraction of the biological fluids and the high pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) assay were performed following a method described previously (1), with seminal plasma samples processed in the same way as serum samples. The results in urine and serum substantially confirmed the figures already established for norfloxacin concentrations in such fluids. Seminal plasma levels (average 4.78 +/- 2.69 micrograms/ml) were about 5 times higher than the corresponding serum levels (average 0.89 +/- 0.59 microgram/ml). The authors believe that such concentrations, attaining a therapeutic range in the seminal plasma after only two 400 mg doses of norfloxacin, support its use as an effective chemotherapeutic agent in the management of male genital infections that frequently account for subfertility conditions in young patients.

Norfloxacin in prostatitis: correlation between HPLC tissue concentrations and clinical results.

Prostatic infections are difficult both to diagnose and to treat and have negative influences on the fertility of the patient. Norfloxacin, a new quinolone antibacterial agent particularly active in urinary tract infections, gave excellent results (400 mg every 12 h for 10 days) in the treatment of chronic-relapsing prostatitis in a group of 20 patients. An 85% success rate was recorded at the end of a follow-up period of 30 days without any undesired effects. This clinical study was paralleled by a pharmacokinetic evaluation of the serum, urine and prostatic tissue concentrations attained by the drug, measured by an HPLC assay on biological fluids and tissue extracts from surgical specimens of 15 patients suffering from benign prostatic hypertrophy and given two 400 mg doses of norfloxacin in the 12 h preceding prostatectomy. The average tissue concentrations (1 microgram/gm), as compared with the MIC90 of the drug for the pathogens sustaining prostatic infections, appear quite sufficient to control the bacterial foci responsible for the chronic-relapsing course of prostatitis and easily account for the clinical success rate.