Made by DATEXIS (Data Science and Text-based Information Systems) at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin
Deep Learning Technology: Sebastian Arnold, Betty van Aken, Paul Grundmann, Felix A. Gers and Alexander Löser. Learning Contextualized Document Representations for Healthcare Answer Retrieval. The Web Conference 2020 (WWW'20)
Funded by The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; Grant: 01MD19013D, Smart-MD Project, Digital Technologies
When deciding the appropriate treatment, it is important for the physician to distinguish PE as a "complaint" versus PE as a "syndrome". About 20 years ago, PE was classified into "lifelong PE" and "acquired PE". Recently, a new classification of PE was proposed based on controlled clinical and epidemiological stopwatch studies, and it included 2 other PE syndromes: "natural variable PE" and "premature-like ejaculatory dysfunction". Only individuals with lifelong PE with IELT shorter than 1–1.5 minutes should require medication as a first option, along with or without therapy. For those who fall into one of the other categories, treatment should consist of patient reassurance, behavior therapy, and/or psychoeducation to explain that irregular early ejaculation is a normal variation.
Several possible sub-classifications have been discussed, but none is in universal usage. "Primary premature ejaculation" refers to lifelong experience of the problem (since puberty), and "secondary premature ejaculation" reference to the problem beginning later in life. It has also been subdivided into "global premature ejaculation", when it occurs with all partners and contexts, and "situational premature ejaculation," when it occurs in some situations or with specific partners.
A physical exam of the genitals is applied to ensure that there are no anatomical problems. The urine will be examined for the presence of semen. If there are no sperm in the urine, it may be due to damage to the prostate as a result of surgery or prior radiation therapy.
Diagnosis is usually by way of a urinalysis performed on a urine specimen that is obtained shortly after ejaculation. In cases of retrograde ejaculation, the specimen will contain an abnormal level of sperm.
Especially in case of "orgasmic anejaculation", anejaculation can often be confused with retrograde ejaculation, and they share some fundamental aspects of the cause. Urinalysis is used to distinguish between them.
Several treatments have been tested for treating premature ejaculation. A combination of medication and non-medication treatments is often the most effective method.
Meditation has demonstrated effectiveness in case studies.
There is yet no reliable medication for delayed ejaculation. PDE5 inhibitors such as Viagra have little effect. In fact, Viagra has a delaying effect on ejaculation, possibly through additional effect in the brain or decrease of sensitivity in the head of the penis.
Therapy usually involves homework assignments and exercises intended to help a man get used to having orgasms through insertional intercourse, vaginal, anal, or oral, that is through the way to which he is not accustomed. Commonly, the couple is advised to go through three stages. At the first stage, a man masturbates in the presence of his partner. Sometimes, this is not an easy matter as a man may be used to having orgasms alone. After a man learns to ejaculate in the presence of his partner, the man's hand is replaced with the hand of his partner. In the final stage, the receptive partner inserts the insertive partner's penis into the partner's vagina, anus, or mouth as soon as the ejaculation is felt to be imminent. Thus, a man gradually learns to ejaculate inside the desired orifice by an incremental process.
Some strategies suggested or proposed for avoiding male infertility include the following:
- Avoiding smoking as it damages sperm DNA
- Avoiding heavy marijuana and alcohol use.
- Avoiding excessive heat to the testes.
- Maintaining optimal frequency of coital activity: sperm counts can be depressed by daily coital activity and sperm motility may be depressed by coital activity that takes place too infrequently (abstinence 10–14 days or more).
- Wearing a protective cup and jockstrap to protect the testicles, in any sport such as baseball, football, cricket, lacrosse, hockey, softball, paintball, rodeo, motorcross, wrestling, soccer, karate or other martial arts or any sport where a ball, foot, arm, knee or bat can come into contact with the groin.
- Diet: Healthy diets (i.e. the Mediterranean diet) rich in such nutrients as omega-3 fatty acids, some antioxidants and vitamins, and low in saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and trans-fatty acids (TFAs) are inversely associated with low semen quality parameters. In terms of food groups, fish, shellfish and seafood, poultry, cereals, vegetables and fruits, and low-fat dairy products have been positively related to sperm quality. However, diets rich in processed meat, soy foods, potatoes, full-fat dairy products, coffee, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages and sweets have been inversely associated with the quality of semen in some studies. The few studies relating male nutrient or food intake and fecundability also suggest that diets rich in red meat, processed meat, tea and caffeine are associated with a lower rate of fecundability. This association is only controversial in the case of alcohol. The potential biological mechanisms linking diet with sperm function and fertility are largely unknown and require further study.
Several decades ago the medical community believed the majority of sexual dysfunction cases were related to psychological issues. Although this may be true for a portion of men, the vast majority of cases have now been identified as having a physical cause or correlation. If the sexual dysfunction is deemed to have a psychological component or cause, psychotherapy can help. Situational anxiety arises from an earlier bad incident or lack of experience. This anxiety often leads to development of fear towards sexual activity and avoidance. In return evading leads to a cycle of increased anxiety and desensitization of the penis. In some cases, erectile dysfunction may be due to marital disharmony. Marriage counseling sessions are recommended in this situation.
Lifestyle changes such as discontinuing smoking, drug or alcohol abuse can also help in some types of erectile dysfunction.
Several oral medications like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra have become available to help people with erectile dysfunction and have become first line therapy. These medications provide an easy, safe, and effective treatment solution for approximately 60% of men. In the rest, the medications may not work because of wrong diagnosis or chronic history.
Another type of medication that is effective in roughly 85% of men is called intracavernous pharmacotherapy and involves injecting a vasodilator drug directly into the penis in order to stimulate an erection. This method has an increased risk of priapism if used in conjunction with other treatments, and localized pain.
When conservative therapies fail, are an unsatisfactory treatment option, or are contraindicated for use, the insertion of a penile prosthesis, or penile implant, may be selected by the patient. Technological advances have made the insertion of a penile prosthesis a safe option for the treatment of erectile dysfunction which provides the highest patient and partner satisfaction rates of all available ED treatment options.
Pelvic floor physical therapy has been shown to be a valid treatment for men with sexual problems and pelvic pain.
Ultrasonography of the scrotum is useful when there is a suspicion of some particular diseases. It may detect signs of testicular dysgenesis, which is often related to an impaired spermatogenesis and to a higher risk of testicular cancer. Scrotum ultrasonography may also detect testicular lesions suggestive of malignancy. A decreased testicular vascularization is characteristic of testicular torsion, whereas hyperemia is often observed in epididymo-orchitis or in some malignant conditions such as lymphoma and leukemia. Doppler ultrasonography useful in assessing venous reflux in case of a varicocele, when palpation is unreliable or in detecting recurrence or persistence after surgery, although the impact of its detection and surgical correction on sperm parameters and overall fertility is debated.
Dilation of the head or tail of the epididymis is suggestive of obstruction or inflammation of the male reproductive tract. Such abnormalities are associated with abnormalities in sperm parameters, as are abnormalities in the texture of the epididymis. Scrotal and transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) are useful in detecting uni- or bilateral congenital absence of the vas deferens (CBAVD), which may be associated with abnormalities or agenesis of the epididymis, seminal vesicles or kidneys, and indicate the need for testicular sperm extraction. TRUS plays a key role in assessing azoospermia caused by obstruction, and detecting distal CBAVD or anomalies related to obstruction of the ejaculatory duct, such as abnormalities within the duct itself, a median cyst of the prostate (indicating a need for cyst aspiration), or an impairment of the seminal vesicles to become enlarged or emptied.
Although there are no approved pharmaceuticals for addressing female sexual disorders, several are under investigation for their effectiveness. A vacuum device is the only approved medical device for arousal and orgasm disorders. It is designed to increase blood flow to the clitoris and external genitalia. Women experiencing pain with intercourse are often prescribed pain relievers or desensitizing agents. Others are prescribed lubricants and/or hormone therapy. Many patients with female sexual dysfunction are often also referred to a counselor or therapist for psychosocial counseling.
The first-line method for sperm retrieval in men with spinal cord injury is "penile vibratory stimulation" (PVS). The penile vibratory stimulator is a plier-like device that is placed around glans penis to stimulate it by vibration. In case of failure with PVS, spermatozoa are sometimes collected by electroejaculation, or surgically by per cutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration (PESA) or testicular sperm extraction (TESE).
Achieving a pregnancy naturally may be a challenge if the male suffers from a low sperm count. However, chances are good if the female partner is fertile; many couples with this problem have been successful. Prognosis is more limited if there is a combination of factors that include sperm dysfunction and reduced ovarian reserve.
Treatment takes place within the context of infertility management and needs also to consider the fecundity of the female partner. Thus the choices can be complex.
In a number of situations direct medical or surgical intervention can improve the sperm concentration, examples are use of FSH in men with pituitary hypogonadism, antibiotics in case of infections, or operative corrections of a hydrocele, varicocele, or vas deferens obstruction.
In most cases of oligospermia including its idiopathic form there is no direct medical or surgical intervention agreed to be effective. Empirically many medical approaches have been tried including clomiphene citrate, tamoxifen, HMG, FSH, HCG, testosterone, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, anti-oxidants, carnitine, acetyl-L-carnitine, zinc, high-protein diets. In a number of pilot studies some positive results have been obtained. Clomiphene citrate has been used with modest success. The combination of tamoxifen plus testosterone was reported to improve the sperm situation.
The use of carnitine showed some promise in a controlled trial in selected cases of male infertility improving sperm quality and further studies are needed.
In many situations, intrauterine inseminations are performed with success. In more severe cases IVF, or IVF - ICSI is done and is often the best option, specifically if time is a factor or fertility problems coexist on the female side.
The Low dose Estrogen Testosterone Combination Therapy may improve sperm count and motility in some men including severe oligospermia.
Between 5 and 10 percent of women with POF may become pregnant. Currently no fertility treatment has officially been found to effectively increase fertility in women with POF, and the use of donor eggs with in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and adoption are popular as a means of achieving parenthood for women with POF. Some women with POF choose to live child-free. (See impaired ovarian reserve for a summary of recent randomized clinical trials and treatment methods.)
Currently New York fertility researchers are investigating the use of a mild hormone called dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in women with POF to increase spontaneous pregnancy rates. Published results from studies conducted on DHEA have indicated that DHEA may increase spontaneously conceived pregnancies, decrease spontaneous miscarriage rates and improve IVF success rates in women with POF.
Additionally, over the last five years a Greek research team has successfully implemented the use of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) for the fertility treatment of women suffering with POF.The majority of the patients were referred for donor eggs or surrogacy, however after a few months of DHEA administration, some succeeded in getting pregnant through IVF, IUI, IUTPI or natural conception. Many babies have been born after treatment with DHEA.
Ovarian tissue cryopreservation can be performed on prepubertal girls at risk for premature ovarian failure, and this procedure is as feasible and safe as comparable operative procedures in children.
Without medical intervention, the male fertility rate after SCI is 5–14%, but the rate increases with treatments. Even with all available medical interventions, fewer than half of men with SCI can father children. Assisted insemination is usually required. As with erection, therapies used to treat infertility in uninjured men are used for those with SCI.
For anejaculation in SCI, the first-line method for sperm retrieval is penile vibratory stimulation (PVS). A high-speed vibrator is applied to the glans penis to trigger a reflex that causes ejaculation, usually within a few minutes. Reports of efficacy with PVS range from 15–88%, possibly due to differences in vibrator settings and experience of clinicians, as well as level and completeness of injury. Complete lesions strictly above Onuf's nucleus (S2–S4) are responsive to PVS in 98%, but complete lesions of the S2–S4 segments are not.
In case of failure with PVS, spermatozoa are sometimes collected by electroejaculation: an electrical probe is inserted into the rectum, where it triggers ejaculation. The success rate is 80–100%, but the technique requires anaesthesia and does not have the potential to be done at home that PVS has. Both PVS and electroejaculation carry a risk of autonomic dysreflexia, so drugs to prevent the condition can be given in advance and blood pressure is monitored throughout the procedures for those who are susceptible. Massage of the prostate gland and seminal vesicles is another method to retrieve stored sperm. If these methods fail to cause ejaculation or do not yield sufficient usable sperm, sperm can be surgically removed by testicular sperm extraction or percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration. These procedures yield sperm in 86–100% of cases, but nonsurgical treatments are preferred.
Premature or spontaneous ejaculation is treated with antidepressants including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are known to delay ejaculation as a side effect.
Azoospermia is usually detected in the course of an infertility investigation. It is established on the basis of two semen analysis evaluations done at separate occasions (when the seminal specimen after centrifugation shows no sperm under the microscope) and requires a further work-up.
The investigation includes a history, a physical examination including a thorough evaluation of the scrotum and testes, laboratory tests, and possibly imaging. History includes the general health, sexual health, past fertility, libido, and sexual activity. Past exposure to a number of agents needs to be queried including medical agents like hormone/steroid therapy, antibiotics, 5-ASA inhibitors (sulfasalazine), alpha-blockers, 5 alpha-reductase inhibitors, chemotherapeutic agents, pesticides, recreational drugs (marijuana, excessive alcohol), and heat exposure of the testes. A history of surgical procedures of the genital system needs to be elicited. The family history needs to be assessed to look for genetic abnormalities.
Congenital absence of the vas deferens may be detectable on physical examination and can be confirmed by a transrectal ultrasound (TRUS). If confirmed genetic testing for cystic fibrosis is in order. Transrectal ultrasound can also assess azoospermia caused by obstruction, or anomalies related to obstruction of the ejaculatory duct, such as abnormalities within the duct itself, a median cyst of the prostate (indicating a need for cyst aspiration), or an impairment of the seminal vesicles to become enlarged or emptied.
Retrograde ejaculation is diagnosed by examining a postejaculatory urine for presence of sperm after making it alkaline and centifuging it.
Low levels of LH and FSH with low or normal testosterone levels are indicative of pretesticular problems, while high levels of gonadotropins indicate testicular problems. However, often this distinction is not clear and the differentiation between obstructive versus non-obstructive azoospermia may require a testicular biopsy. On the other hand, "In azoospermic men with a normal ejaculate volume, FSH serum level greater than two times the upper limit of the normal range is reliably diagnostic of dysfunctional spermatogenesis and, when found, a diagnostic testicular biopsy is usually unnecessary, although no consensus exists in this matter." But also, extremely high levels of FSH (>45 ID/mL) have been correlated with successful microdissection testicular sperm extraction.
Serum inhibin-B weakly indicates presence of sperm cells in the testes, raising chances for successfully achieving pregnancy through testicular sperm extraction (TESE), although the association is not very substantial, having a sensitivity of 0.65 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.56–0.74) and a specificity of 0.83 (CI: 0.64–0.93) for prediction the presence of sperm in the testes in non-obstructive azoospermia.
Seminal plasma proteins TEX101 and ECM1 were recently proposed for the differential diagnosis of azoospermia forms and subtypes, and for prediction of TESE outcome. Mount Sinai Hospital, Canada started clinical trial to test this hypothesis in 2016.
It is recommended that men primary hypopituitarism may be linked to a genetic cause, a genetic evaluation is indicated in men with azoospermia due to primary hypopituitarism. Azoospermic men with testicular failure are advised to undergo karyotype and Y-micro-deletion testing.
Compared with the options available for treating sexual dysfunction in men (for whom results are concretely observable), those available for women are limited. For example, PDE5 inhibitors, oral medications for treating erectile dysfunction in men, have been tested for their ability to increase sexual responses such as arousal and orgasm in women—but no controlled trials have been done in women with SCI, and trials in other women yielded only inconclusive results. In theory, women's sexual response could be improved using a vacuum device made to draw blood into the clitoris, but few studies on treatments for sexual function in women with SCI have been carried out. There is a particular paucity of information outside the area of reproduction.
Serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) measurement alone can be used to diagnose the disease. Two FSH measurements with one-month interval have been a common practice. The anterior pituitary secretes FSH and LH at high levels due to the dysfunction of the ovaries and consequent low estrogen levels. Typical FSH in POF patients is over 40 mlU/ml (post-menopausal range).
The FDA has approved one medication for the treatment of disorders of female libido, flibanserin.
Patients with a double uterus may need special attention during pregnancy as premature birth and malpresentation are common. Cesarean section was performed in 82% of patients reported by Heinonen.
Uterus didelphys, in certain studies, has also been found associated with higher rate of infertility, miscarriage, intrauterine growth retardation, and postpartum bleed.
Aspermia is the complete lack of semen with ejaculation (not to be confused with azoospermia, the lack of sperm cells in the semen). It is associated with infertility.
One of the causes of aspermia is retrograde ejaculation, which can be brought on by excessive drug use, or as a result of prostate surgery. It can also be caused by alpha blockers such as tamsulosin and silodosin.
Another cause of aspermia is ejaculatory duct obstruction, which may result in a complete lack of or a very low-concentration semen (oligospermia), in which the semen contains only the secretion of accessory prostate glands downstream to the orifice of the ejaculatory ducts.
Aspermia can be caused by androgen deficiency. This can be the result of absence of puberty, in which the prostate gland and seminal vesicles (which are the main sources of semen) remain small due to lack of androgen exposure and do not produce seminal fluid, or of treatment for prostate cancer, such as maximal androgen blockade.
Pre- and post-testicular azoospermia are frequently correctible, while testicular azoospermia is usually permanent. In the former the cause of the azoospermia needs to be considered and it opens up possibilities to manage this situation directly. Thus men with azoospermia due to hyperprolactinemia may resume sperm production after treatment of hyperprolactinemia or men whose sperm production is suppressed by exogenous androgens are expected to produce sperm after cessation of androgen intake. In situations where the testes are normal but unstimulated, gonadotropin therapy can be expected to induce sperm production.
A major advancement in recent years has been the introduction of IVF with ICSI which allows successful fertilization even with immature sperm or sperm obtained directly from testicular tissue. IVF-ICSI allows for pregnancy in couples where the man has irreversible testicular azoospermia as long as it is possible to recover sperm material from the testes. Thus men with non-mosaic Klinefelter's syndrome have fathered children using IVF-ICSI. Pregnancies have been achieved in situations where azoospermia was associated with cryptorchism and sperm where obtained by testicular sperm extraction (TESE).
In men with posttesticular azoospermia a number of approaches are available. For obstructive azoospermia IVF-ICSI or surgery can be used and individual factors need to be considered for the choice of treatment. Medication may be helpful for retrograde ejaculation.
It can depend on one or more of several causes, including:
- Sexual inhibition
- Pharmacological inhibition. They include mostly antidepressant and antipsychotic medication, and the patients experiencing that tend to quit them
- Autonomic nervous system
- Prostatectomy - surgical removal of the prostate.
- Ejaculatory duct obstruction
- Spinal cord injury causes sexual dysfunction including anejaculation. The rate of being able to ejaculate varies with the type of lesion, as detailed in the table at right.
- old age
Anejaculation, especially the "orgasmic" variant, is usually indistinguishable from retrograde ejaculation. However, a negative urinalysis measuring no abnormal presence of spermatozoa in the urine will eliminate a retrograde ejaculation diagnosis.
Thus, if the affected man has the sensations and involuntary muscle-contractions of an orgasm but no or very low-volume semen, ejaculatory duct obstruction is another possible underlying pathology of anejaculation.
A pelvic examination will typically reveal a double vagina and a double cervix. Investigations are usually prompted on the basis of such findings as well as when reproductive problems are encountered. Not all cases of uterus didelphys involve duplication of the cervix and vagina.
Helpful techniques to investigate the uterine structure are transvaginal ultrasonography and sonohysterography, hysterosalpingography, MRI, and hysteroscopy. More recently 3-D ultrasonography has been advocated as an excellent non-invasive method to evaluate uterine malformations.
Uterus didelphys is often confused with a complete uterine septum. Often more than one method of investigation is necessary to accurately diagnose the condition. Correct diagnosis is crucial as treatment for these two conditions is very different. Whereas most doctors recommend removal of a uterine septum, they generally concur that it is better not to operate on a uterus didelphys. In either case, a highly qualified reproductive endocrinologist should be consulted.
There is no generally agreed upon diagnostic criteria for POIS. One group has developed five preliminary criteria for diagnosing POIS. These are:
1. one or more of the following symptoms: sensation of a flu-like state, extreme fatigue or exhaustion, weakness of musculature, experiences of feverishness or perspiration, mood disturbances and / or irritability, memory difficulties, concentration problems, incoherent speech, congestion of nose or watery nose, itching eyes;
2. all symptoms occur immediately (e.g., seconds), soon (e.g., minutes), or within a few hours after ejaculation that is initiated by coitus, and / or masturbation, and / or spontaneously (e.g., during sleep);
3. symptoms occur always or nearly always, e.g., in more than 90% of ejaculation events;
4. most of these symptoms last for about 2–7 days; and
5. disappear spontaneously.
POIS is prone to being erroneously ascribed to psychological factors such as hypochondriasis or somatic symptom disorder.