Recent studies have revealed a significant relationship between erectile dysfunction (ED) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), both of which commonly affect middle-aged and older men. These conditions share underlying causes, particularly endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerosis, and chronic pelvic ischemia (CPI). This study investigated the therapeutic potential of LDD175, a large-conductance Ca 2+ -activated K + channel (BKCa channel) opener, in simultaneously treating both conditions using a CPI animal model of male Sprague Dawley rats. Our study investigated the induction of CPI through surgical endothelial damage combined with a high-cholesterol diet. We assessed erectile and voiding functions by measuring intracavernosal pressure (ICP) and intraurethral pressure (IUP), respectively, after nerve stimulation. We performed histological examinations of vascular changes and western blot analyses of cavernous and prostate tissues to understand the underlying mechanisms. This study evaluated the effectiveness of LDD175 compared to standard treatments, such as sildenafil for ED and tamsulosin for LUTS. Therefore, the CPI model successfully demonstrated ED and LUTS symptoms with decreased ICP and increased IUP. Analysis revealed elevated levels of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α, transforming growth factor-β1 and β2 in cavernous tissue, and increased α1A-adrenoceptor expression in prostate tissue. LDD175 administration showed promising results, with dose-dependent improvements in ICP and IUP, and therapeutic effects comparable to those of established treatments. Our findings suggest a novel therapeutic approach that can simultaneously address ED and LUTS, opening new possibilities for clinical application in the treatment of these interconnected conditions.
Male ; Animals ; Erectile Dysfunction/etiology* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms/etiology* ; Ischemia/drug therapy* ; Rats ; Tamsulosin ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit/drug effects* ; Sildenafil Citrate/therapeutic use* ; Penis/blood supply* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1/metabolism* ; Pelvis/blood supply* ; Prostate/metabolism* ; Sulfonamides/therapeutic use* ; Large-Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels/agonists*

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) is a common disease with frequent occurrence in elderly men, and its incidence shows a significant positive correlation with age. Evidence has confirmed that BPH/LUTS is closely related to erectile dysfunction (ED) and significantly affects the quality of life of elderly males. Phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors (PDE5i) can improve both ED and BPH/LUTS of the patients and PDE5 is expected to be a new therapeutic target for BPH/LUTS with ED. This review explores the structure and function of PDE5 and the action mechanisms of PDE5i so as to provide a more effective strategy for the clinical treatment of BPH/LUTS with ED.
Aged ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Erectile Dysfunction ; complications ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; complications ; drug therapy ; Male ; Phosphodiesterase 5 Inhibitors ; therapeutic use ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; complications ; drug therapy ; Quality of Life

There are two types of refractory nocturnal enuresis. The first type corresponds to patients who are refractory from initial success, and the second type refers to refractory nocturnal enuresis after long-term success, in patients who cannot discontinue medications for enuresis. In the former type, it is necessary to determine whether the timing of medications is appropriate, whether the usage of antidiuretics is appropriate, whether any lifestyle changes have taken place, and whether there are secondary causes of enuresis. In the latter type, enuretic alarm treatment should be considered initially, and it is then important to investigate whether a respiratory obstruction is present in patients with nocturnal polyuria, whether the patient is constipated, and whether patients with non-monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis have lower urinary tract symptoms or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; Drug Resistance ; Drug Therapy ; Enuresis ; Humans ; Life Style ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; Nocturnal Enuresis* ; Polyuria

Objective: To investigate the effects of transrectal ultrasound conductance (TRUSC)-guided administration of traditional Chinese medicine on histological prostatitis in men with small-size BPH and low urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) after transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). METHODS: This study included 167 BPH patients without surgical contraindications. We randomized the patients into an experimental group (n = 84) and a control group (n = 83), with no statistically significant differences between the two groups in age, prostate volume, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), and quality of life (QoL) (P >0.05). The patients of the experimental group received TRUSC-guided administration of traditional Chinese medicine, qd, for 7 days before TURP, while those of the control group underwent TURP only. After treatment, we compared the results of postoperative pathological examination of the prostate tissue, the histological grade of inflammation, IPSS, and QoL scores between the two groups of patients. RESULTS: In the experimental group, there were 12 cases of non-inflammation (14.3%), 43 cases of mild inflammation (51.2%), 28 cases of moderate inflammation (33.3%), and 1 case of severe inflammation (1.2%), as compared with 8 cases of non-inflammation (9.6%), 28 cases of mild inflammation (33.7%), 45 cases of moderate inflammation (51.8%), and 2 cases of severe inflammation (2.4%) in the control group (P <0.05). Compared with the baseline, both the experimental and control groups showed significant improvement at 4 weeks after surgery in IPSS (22.20±4.14 vs 4.26±2.64 and 23.05±4.11 vs 7.02±4.15, P <0.05) and QoL scores (4.33±0.83 vs 1.25±1.64 and 4.25±0.91 vs 2.05±1.95, P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS TRUSC-guided administration of traditional Chinese medicine can significantly alleviate histological inflammation and improve QoL in men with small-size BPH and LUTS after TURP.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; drug therapy ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Prostatitis ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Quality of Life ; Transurethral Resection of Prostate ; Treatment Outcome ; Ultrasonography, Interventional ; methods

Objective: To assess the clinical efficacy of the saw palmetto fruit extract (SPFE) in the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in patients with type ⅢA prostatitis. METHODS: This retrospective study included 54 cases of type ⅢA prostatitis treated in the Outpatient Department of our hospital from January to December 2015. The patients were aged 35.06 ± 5.85 years, with a mean disease course of 3.8 ± 2.1 years, and all received oral medication of SPFE Capsules at the dose of 320 mg qd for 12 weeks. We assessed the therapeutic effects by comparing the NIH-chronic prostatitis symptom indexes (NIH-CPSI), voiding diary, International Prostate Symptom Scores (IPSS), and results of urodynamic examination before and after treatment. RESULTS: Compared with the baseline, both NIH-CPSI and IPSS were significantly decreased after medication (27.61 ± 3.76 vs 18.6 ± 5.34, P <0.01; 20.44 ± 4.51 vs 10.96±4.62, P <0.01), and urodynamic examination and voiding diary showed dramatic post-medication improvement in the average urinary flow rate (［8.05±1.42］ vs ［12.05±2.60］ ml/s, P <0.01 ), maximum urinary flow rate (［14.22±1.74］ vs ［21.32±4.51］ ml/s, P <0.01), residual urine volume (［46.15±16.57］ vs ［14.55±10.21］ ml, P <0.01), maximum urethral closure pressure (［76.52±3.53］ vs ［65.32±4.75］ cm H2O, P <0.01), mean urinary volume (［124.63±40.55］ vs ［285.93±58.68］ ml, P <0.01), urination frequency (16.96±4.17 vs 8.96±2.50, P <0.01), and nocturia frequency (8.94±3.23 vs 3.15±1.90, P <0.01). No apparent adverse reactions were observed in any of the patients. CONCLUSIONS SPFE Capsules can safely and effectively improve LUTS and thus the quality of life of patients with type ⅢA prostatitis.
Adult ; Chronic Disease ; Humans ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Male ; Plant Extracts ; therapeutic use ; Prostatitis ; complications ; Quality of Life ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome ; Urination ; Urological Agents ; therapeutic use

The rapid aging of the world population is major global demographic trend. The number of people with age-related disease has increased substantially due to increased life expectancy in the general population. Major geriatric urological diseases include urinary incontinence, urological cancer, bladder outlet obstruction disorders such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), sexual dysfunction, and urinary tract infection. BPH is the most common benign tumor in urology. Testosterone is considered to play a major role in the development of BPH. Lower urinary tract symptoms due to BPH are classified as related to either storage or voiding. Evaluation of symptom scores, digital rectal examination, urine analysis, serum prostate specific antigen measurement, uroflowmetry, and post-void residual urine testing are mandatory. In addition, in order to rule out prostatic cancer, other screening and diagnostic procedures are often required. Depending on the condition of the patients, approaches such as watchful waiting, pharmacotherapy with an alpha blocker or 5-alpha reductase inhibitor, or surgery such as transurethral resection of prostate are appropriate.
Aging ; Digital Rectal Examination ; Drug Therapy ; Geriatrics ; Humans ; Hyperplasia* ; Life Expectancy ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; Mass Screening ; Oxidoreductases ; Prostate* ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Testosterone ; Transurethral Resection of Prostate ; Urinary Bladder Neck Obstruction ; Urinary Incontinence ; Urinary Tract Infections ; Urologic Diseases ; Urologic Neoplasms ; Urology ; Watchful Waiting

Lower urinary tract dysfunction increases with age. Detrusor overactivity, detrusor underactivity, and detrusor hyperreflexia with impaired contractility are more common in elderly population. The elderly patients usually have cormobidities, comedications, and precipitation factors, which cause or exacerbate urinary symptoms, or aggravate subclinical lower urinary tract dysfunction to overwhelming diseases. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics changes with age. Older patients may refuse appropriate therapy because they are concerned about adverse effects, and economic burden. Thus strategy for the diagnosis and the management of lower urinary tract dysfunction in elderly might be different from those in young population. The diagnostic evaluation of these patients starts with history taking and non-invasive tests to make a plan to treat patient's symptom. Watchful waiting with lifestyle intervention is a good treatment modality. If pharmacotheraphy is planned, it would be better to start with low dose, then escalate dose. Adverse effects of medications are more common in elderly patients not by old age, but by comorbidity and comedication. First follow up might be in a short period after prescription when adverse effects usually occur.
Aged ; Comorbidity ; Diagnosis* ; Drug Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Geriatrics ; Humans ; Life Style ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; Pharmacokinetics ; Prescriptions ; Reflex, Abnormal ; Urinary Tract* ; Watchful Waiting

PURPOSE: We assessed whether weight reduction is an effective intervention for the management of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and investigated the relationship between obesity and LUTS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a prospective randomized controlled trial that enrolled obese men older than 50 years with LUTS. The study period was 52 weeks. All patients received standardized alpha-adrenergic blocker therapy for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) during the run-in period. Patients were randomized to receive either a standardized prerecorded video program on the general principle of weight reduction or a comprehensive weight reduction program. Patients were assessed at different time points with symptom assessment, uroflowmetry, transrectal ultrasound, and metabolic assessment. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients were allocated to each study arm. After the study period, no significant difference in weight reduction was found between the two arms. When the pre- and postintervention parameters were compared, none were statistically different between the 2 arms, namely nocturia, International Prostate Symptom Score, quality of life assessment, and uroflowmetry parameters. When the whole study population was taken as a single cohort, these parameters were also not significantly different between the group with a body mass index of 25 to <30 kg/m2 and the group with a BMI of 30 to 35 kg/m2. CONCLUSIONS: We found no association between obesity and LUTS. This could have been due to the less marked weight difference in our cohort. Whereas weight reduction may be an effective measure to improve LUTS, the implementation of a successful program remains a challenge.
Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists/*therapeutic use ; Aged ; Body Mass Index ; Humans ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms/*drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Obesity ; Prospective Studies ; Prostatic Hyperplasia/diagnosis/*drug therapy ; Quality of Life ; Severity of Illness Index ; Treatment Outcome ; *Weight Loss

Ketamine is a short-acting anaesthetic agent that has gained popularity as a 'club drug' due to its hallucinogenic effects. Substance abuse should be considered in young adult patients who present with severe debilitating symptoms such as lower urinary tract symptoms, even though the use of controlled substances is rare in Singapore. Although the natural history of disease varies from person to person, a relationship between symptom severity and frequency/dosage of abuse has been established. It is important to be aware of this condition and have a high degree of clinical suspicion to enable early diagnosis and immediate initiation of multidisciplinary and holistic treatment. A delayed diagnosis can lead to irreversible pathological changes and increased morbidity among ketamine abusers.
Adult ; Cystitis ; drug therapy ; Cystoscopy ; Female ; Fluoroscopy ; Humans ; Ketamine ; adverse effects ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; chemically induced ; Male ; Singapore ; Substance-Related Disorders ; complications ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ultrasonography ; Urinary Tract ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Young Adult

Saw palmetto fruit extract (SPE), as a herbal product, is widely used for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Recent studies show that SPE also has some therapeutic effects on chronic prostatitis, prostate cancer, sexual dysfunction, and so on. This article presents an overview on the application of SPE in the treatment of BPH, prostate cancer, and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome, with a discussion on its action mechanisms.
Chronic Disease ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Humans ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms ; drug therapy ; Male ; Pelvic Pain ; drug therapy ; Plant Extracts ; therapeutic use ; Prostatic Diseases ; drug therapy ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; drug therapy ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Prostatitis ; drug therapy ; Syndrome