Psychological and psychiatric morbidity in lichen sclerosus in a cohort recruited from a genitourinary medicine clinic.

Forty-five cases of lichen sclerosus (LS) were retrospectively found between 2000 and 2008 among those attending an associate university teaching hospital sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinic (genitourinary [GU] medicine clinic) and 26 responders of the 45, to a questionnaire about psychological morbidity and psychiatric morbidity, were evaluated. Sixteen percent of the patients were worried about the possibility of infecting their partners with the condition, despite counselling to the contrary. Twenty-seven percent felt that the condition's cosmetic appearance adversely affected libido. There was moderate to severe anxiety at one time or another in 58% while 27% experienced depression at one time or another; 19% admitted to insomnia as a result of the condition; 23% were stressed while 11.5% were worried about starting a new relationship. LS has a profound effect on mental health. Selected patients with LS may benefit from routine referral to a clinical psychologist, within the sexually transmitted disease setting to elaborate and institute coping strategies.

Long-term suppressive therapy for herpes simplex - an audit.

A retrospective analysis of patients, who have been on long-term suppressive therapy for recurrent episodes of herpes simplex (HSV) in a university hospital, was performed and the findings were documented and orchestrated into bar graphs. The study involved patients between the years 2000 and 2007, both inclusive. The results were compared with the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV guidelines. Eighty-two percent (57) had had the infection for at least 12 months at the start of therapy and 78.2% (54) had at least six recurrences per year before the start of treatment. Indeed, only four patients (5.8%) had a treatment interruption at 12 months or less; also only 11 patients (15.9%) had less than six outbreaks per year at the start of treatment. The former is not in-line and the latter is in-line with the guidelines.

Retrospective review of clinical practice in chronic pelvic pain syndrome i.e. category III chronic prostatitis at two hospital sites over five years 2000-2005 (an audit).

All category III chronic prostatitis cases in two hospital sites were retrospectively reviewed from the year 2000 until 2005. The mean age of the patients was 38.7 years. Of these, 56.6% were St Bartholomew's Genitourinary Medicine Department patients and 43.5% were Southend Genitourinary Medicine Clinic patients. We observed that 33.1% of these had at least one transrectal ultrasound of the prostate. The commonest abnormal findings in transrectal ultrasounds of the prostate of the series were focal calcification (16.2%), calculi (9.3%) and inflammatory changes (5.4%). Of this series, 35% were lost to follow-up. The vast majority of the remainder got better over periods ranging from approximately two weeks to approximately three years.