(424) A Contemporary Assessment of Patients Presenting to a Tertiary Medical Center with Peyronie’s Disease
Authors: Roadman D , Wang V , Beer A , Piracha A , Langbo W , Levine L 
Published: May 2023

Introduction

Peyronie’s disease (PD) is a progressive wound-healing disorder resulting in plaque formation within the tunica albuginea. PD continues to be poorly understood and an area of investigation, with increased awareness by patients and clinicians. Most commonly, PD patients will have a singular plaque and uniplanar curvature in the dorsal or lateral direction. However, previous studies have categorized less common deformities as “atypical”, which includes ventral curvature, multiplanar curvatures, unilateral indentations, hourglass deformity, and severe loss of penile length.

Objective

We aim to characterize the presenting features of PD within a large cohort of patients presenting to a tertiary referral center. Furthermore, we seek to elucidate the pre-operative factors that correlate with subsequent surgical intervention.

Methods

1483 consecutive patients presenting with PD from 2016 to 2021 were retrospectively identified. Patients were excluded if they only had virtual visits, refused penile duplex evaluation, or had PD surgical correction prior to presentation. Baseline demographics, prior treatments, physical exam findings, penile duplex assessment (PDDU), subsequent interventions, and clinical outcomes were documented. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess pre-operative predictors of subsequent surgical intervention.

Results

In total, 1263 patients met inclusion criteria. Mean age at presentation was 55.4 ± 11.1 years with a mean duration of PD at presentation of 33.2 ± 42.5 months. Mean primary curvature was 49.8 ± 20.8°. Primary ventral curvature was present in 11.4% and 36.5% of patients had a multiplanar curvature. Mean composite curvature was 60.4 ± 28.2°. Subjective penile shortening was reported by 64.8% of patients with a mean reported loss of 3.8 ± 2.1 cm. During PDDU, indentation/narrowing deformities was appreciated in 73.7%, hourglass deformity in 10.1%, and hinge effect in 33.0% of patients. Calcification was seen in 30.1% of patients. Operative intervention occurred in 35.3% of patients. Hypogonadism (1.56 OR, p=0.04), severity of primary curvature (1.03 OR, p&lt;0.001), hourglass deformity (1.82 OR, p=0.01), decreased tunical elasticity (1.20 OR, p=0.03), and prior intralesional Xiaflex injections (2.94 OR, p &lt;0.001) predicted subsequent surgical correction. Negative predictors of surgical intervention included use of any oral PD treatment (0.43 OR, &lt;0.001) and ability to perform penetrative sex (0.72 OR, p=0.04). 446 (35.3%) patients underwent surgical intervention with 170 (38.1%) plaque incision/excision and grafting, 110 (24.7%) tunical plication, and 166 (37.2%) inflatable penile prosthesis cases.

Conclusions

Peyronie’s disease remains an incompletely understood disease and presenting features may be changing as a result of more sophisticated evaluation and physician experience. Ventral curvature, multiplanar curvatures, indentation deformity, hourglass deformity, and severe loss of penile length have been described as “atypical”, but these changes are not rare in our cohort of referred patients. Patients with worse erectile function and more severe PD characteristics were predictors of surgical intervention.

Disclosure

Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: Boston Scientific.