Erectile dysfunction and Peyronie's disease in patient with retroperitoenal fibrosis

The aim of this study is to determine the sexual dysfunction in patient with retroperitoneal fibrosis (RPF) and also we explored probability of Peyronie's disease (PD) in this patient group and to compare this with the controls.

Ten of 17 male RPF patients formed the basis of this study. Patient's age, concomitant diseases were recorded. The diagnosis of PD was based on a palpable penile plaque or acquired penile curvature. Age-matched 88 patients who were admitted to our outpatient clinic with elevated PSA level served as the control group. All patients were asked to complete the IIEF-5 questionnaire. The severity of the erectile dysfunction (ED) was classified into four categories: severe (5-7), moderate (8-16), mild (17-21), and no ED (22-25). Concomitant systemic diseases were recorded. Statistical analyses were done by the Fisher's exact test and an unpaired-sample t-test.

Patients with severe ED or no sexual intercourse in the study group and the control group during the study period were found to be 7 and 14, respectively. The median IIEF-5 score in RPF patients and the control group was 9.8 (min: 5 to max: 23) and 19 (min: 5 to max: 25), respectively. The differences between groups were statistically significant (P = 0.002). In particular, ED was reported in eight RPF patients (80%) which was severe in six (60%) and moderate in two (20%). ED was reported in 45 patients in the control group (51%) which was severe in 14 (15.9%), mild in 25 (28.4%), and moderate in six (6.8%). Patients with RPF had a significant tendency for severe ED compared with the control group (P = 0.0042). Two patients in the RPF group (20%) and one patient in the control group (1.1%) were found to have a penile plaque (P = 0.0279). Relative risk for developing a penile plague was found to be 0.8 in RPF.

RPF patients are found to be more prone to developing ED. Penile plaque formation was identified in RPF patients, which may be presumed to relate to the pathological changes of the RPF process, but it remains unclear that these patients demonstrate a higher incidence of plaque formation than the normal population.