Over the last 20-years, much has been learned about PD. It is known now that PD is not purely a penile plaque and curvature problem, but previously, this was the emphasis of most large data cohorts [6, 7, 20–23]. Our data provides a sizeable modernization to the literature on initial presentation of PD all being evaluated and managed by a single expert in PD. We now add further information on calcification, delays in presentation, hinge effect, indentation/hourglass, shortening, as well as other “atypical” features that are now recognized as increasingly common.
From a presentation standpoint, the earlier, largest single institution cohort was published over a decade ago including 1001 patients over an 18-year period assessing relationship between degree of curvature and the clinical parameters of patients with PD. Penile deformity without curvature was detected in 12.3% of patients, curvature was < 30° in 39.5%, 30–60° in 34.5% of patients, and > 60° in 13.5% of patients [23]. In comparison, our current cohort is much larger at 1263 patients seen over a 5-year period, with 65-year age range of patient presentation, emphasizing that the disease is not isolated to the 5th decade and is widely present. Additionally, in our cohort, there was more severe curvature deformities with primary curvature of 49.8 ± 20.8° and 27.5% > 60° curve. These increasing deformities, led to a 1.03-fold higher rate of surgical intervention, reiterating that, with larger degree of primary curvature, the more likely conservative managements may fail. We found similar rates to previous studies of dorsal plaque location with 77.9% being dorsal, but also acknowledge 11.9% ventral, and 10.2% with circumferential, or distinct plaques on both dorsum and ventral penile locations [22]. Lastly, consistent with prior analysis, we found penile calcifications are not uncommon with it seen in 30% of our patients, and presence of calcification alone did not predict surgery, but grade 3 calcification versus grade 1–2 remained a significant predictor of surgical intervention [17].
Even more recently, the annual percentage of men with PD treated with at least one treatment form increased from 23.3–35.4% from 2010–2016. During this time, an insurance claims database (2008–2017) identified men 45–54 years old and in southern regions of the USA were more likely to be treated with at least one treatment form. The use of oral medications increased (0.66–20.5%), surgical intervention decreased (14.7–7.9%), and intralesional injections decreased (84.7–71.7%), yet it remains the most used treatment option for men with PD [24]. Also, this study found that just 28% of men with PD were treated on initial presentation. All patients were offered treatment when appropriate in our study, as a result we found much higher rates of oral PD treatment with 75.4% of our patients using this as part of a trimodal treatment regimen, ultimately leading to a 43% reduction of surgical intervention on multivariate analysis. Our standard protocol utilizes a combination of pentoxifylline 400 mg three times a day, an over-the-counter available capsule containing- L-arginine 1,340 mg, L-citrulline 670 mg, and L-carnitine 670 mg, daily external traction therapy, and tadalafil 5 mg daily (if concurrent ED is present) [25]. Our intralesional injection therapy (ILI) rate was much lower with only 21% of patients having undergone ILI and found a 2.94-fold higher rate of surgical intervention in patients who had prior CCH injections. The lower usage rate may be in part patient desire for surgical intervention, and thus seeking out this provider, and possibly patients who had already been deemed not a candidate for ILI with another provider and sought more aggressive treatment in presenting to our clinic.
Prior series reported atypical features (ventral plaques, hourglass deformities, unilateral indentations, severely shortened penile length, and multiplanar curvatures) in 10–39% of patients with PD. More specifically, these atypical features have been reported to occur in patients at rates of 10% with unilateral indentation, 9% with ventral plaques, 1% with hourglass (with 68% of patients with hourglass having concomitant ED) [13, 26]. We found rates of these “atypical” features with ventral plaques present in 11.9%, circumferential or both dorsal and ventral plaques in 10.2%, hourglass deformities in 10.1%, indentation/narrowing in 76.0%, subjective severely shortened penile length in 64.8% at a mean of 3.8 cm reported length loss, and multiplanar curvatures present in 36.5% of patients. Advanced curvature alone (i.e., > 60 degrees) for which patients are often referred, is not the only predictor of surgical intervention, as analysis showed hourglass deformities and poor elasticity to be 1.82- and 1.20-fold independent predictors of surgical intervention respectively. The increased rates of these deformities are important for practicing urologists to understand, they are not as atypical or uncommon as previously reported. Additionally, these features if seen in practice can be helpful to refer early to a high-volume PD specialist.
Mean reported duration of PD symptoms prior to presentation was 33.2 ± 42.5 months, emphasizing a large delay with most patients presenting already in the stable phase with a mean duration of stability of 12.5 ± 28.3 months. While this information is self-reported and may be skewed by some patients, it does pertain to an issue of delay in presentation given the overall advanced deformities seen in our cohort with 52% of patients presenting in a delayed fashion. Given the advanced duration of disease, there is concern for inadequate treatment early in the acute phase. Mulhall et al, previously identified patients with delayed presentation to be significantly older (OR = 4.0), in long-term relationships (OR = 3.6), have dorsal curvature (OR = 2.5), have curvature < 45° (OR = 3.3), be heterosexual (OR = 2.0), and have simple deformity (OR = 1.5) [27]. We did not find significant differences in age, dorsal curvature or simple versus complex deformity in our patients, unfortunately it appears many patients referring late had more severe curvature, higher rate of shortening, and ultimately a higher rate of surgical intervention.
Our study contains several limitations, including its retrospective single-center nature, although at our center, patients are referred both locally, nationally, and internationally for evaluation. Selection bias may be present as those who are candidates for multimodal conservative therapy are less likely in an advanced state and thus are less likely to be referred to a subspecialist. Additionally, risk of attrition due to patients seeking care for PD from multiple providers makes accurate tracking of outcomes in isolation challenging. Despite these limitations, it is important that all patients were examined by a highly experienced PD expert at baseline and subsequent encounters with rigorous objective assessment of penile deformity making it a uniform cohort for analysis of baseline PD characteristics seen at a tertiary referral center.