[Transrectal prostatic echography in the study of hemospermia. An assessment of an 85-patient case load]

Eighty-five patients with hemospermia were examined with blood tests, sperm culture, transrectal US (TRUS) and cystourethroscopy. Blood tests and sperm culture demonstrated bacterial inflammation in 48 patients (56.47%). At cystourethroscopy, the urethra was normal or hyperemic in all patients. TRUS demonstrated 40 cases (47.05%) of periurethral calcifications and also with calcifications in the two glandular lobes. TRUS also demonstrated prostatic inflammation in progress or its outcome in 21 patients (24.70%), ectasia and seminal vesicle inflammation in 10 patients (11.76%), a prostatic tumor in 3 patients (3.52%). No patient had cysts, stones or cancers in the seminal vesicles. In 11 patients (12.94%), no specific cause of hemospermia was detected, even though 4 of these patients (4.70%) had received anticoagulants for former heart ischemia. Benign prostatic hypertrophy was found in 44 patients (51.76%) but we did not consider it a possible cause of hemospermia because of the high frequency of this condition in the male population. To conclude, TRUS could demonstrate the cause of hemospermia in most of our patients, which makes us suggest it as the diagnostic technique of choice in the patients with ejaculatory conditions, after clinical exams and laboratory tests, because it allows to study the prostate, the seminal vesicles and the urethra.