Male accessory gland infections: anatomical extension of inflammation and severity of symptoms evaluated by an original questionnaire

Abstract

The study was aimed at evaluating a new diagnostic interview, arbitrarily named Structured Interview about male accessory gland infections (SI-MAGI), administered to three different groups of patients with MAGI according to ultrasound evaluation [prostatitis (P) or prostato-vesciculitis (PV) or prostato-vesciculo-epididymitis (PVE)]. We evaluated 110 consecutively selected infertile patients, with diagnosis of MAGI and underwent to transrectal and scrotal ultrasound (US) examination. After ultrasound evaluation, they were divided into three well-characterised, aged-matched groups: prostatitis (P; n = 45), prostato-vesciculitis (PV; n = 30) and prostato-vesciculo-epididymitis (PVE; n = 35). Then, all patients were submitted to active clinical history oriented by SI-MAGI questionnaire elucidated by the operator. The SI-MAGI was structured in four domains (urinary symptoms, ejaculatory pain or discomfort, sexual dysfunction and quality-of-life impact) for a total of 30 questions with four possible answers. Infertile patients of PVE and PV groups showed scores significantly higher than P group in all domains (anovaP < 0.005). PVE showed scores significantly higher than PV group in domain 2 and 3. Our study demonstrates the MAGI's symptoms worsen with major extension of inflammation and ultrasound can evaluate the true extent of MAGI and symptoms can help to suggest the severity of MAGI.