Study Of The Effects Of Adrenal Tumors On Male Erectile Function

Erectile dysfunction(ED)is the persistent inability of the penis to achieve and/or maintain sexual intercourse sufficient for satisfactory intercourse and is the most common male sexual dysfunction disorder,which has a serious impact on the patient’s quality of life,relationship with sexual partners and family stability.Along with the acceleration of contemporary society into aging,the number of people suffering from ED is rising,and according to current data,there are now nearly 150 million men with ED worldwide,and may reach 322 million in the near future.The adrenal gland is an important endocrine organ in the body,divided into cortex and medulla.Among them,the cortex is thicker and located in the superficial layer,accounting for about 80% of the adrenal glands,which can be divided into three parts from outside to inside: the globular zone,the fasciculus and the reticular zone.The cortical hormones secreted by the adrenal cortex are divided into three categories: salt corticosteroids,glucocorticoids and sex hormones.And the hormones secreted by adrenal medulla are mainly adrenaline,noradrenaline and a small amount of dopamine.It is not clear whether adrenal tumors will affect the sexual function of patients.It has been previously thought that only severe adrenal lesions affect patients’ sexual function,while it has also been suggested that almost all extra-gonadal endocrine lesions affect patients’ sexual function to a greater or lesser extent.The aim of this study was to investigate erectile function in patients with adrenal tumors.PurposeTo analyze and compare erectile function in patients with adrenal tumors and healthy men and erectile function in patients with adrenal tumors before and after laparoscopic surgery.Research methodsThe medical records of 40 patients with adrenal tumors who met the nadir criteria and 43 healthy men who attended the urology clinic during the same period from January 2021 to July 2022 at the Second People’s Hospital of Changzhou City were prospectively studied,including age,body mass index,systolic blood pressure,diastolic blood pressure,etc.and some biochemical laboratory indices of blood and urine,nocturnal penile distension test(NPT)of both groups of patients related data,IIEF-5scores,and pathological staging of patients with post-surgical adrenal tumors.Exclusion criteria: history of genital trauma or surgery,history of spinal nerve trauma or surgery,patients with severe obesity,severe cardiovascular disease,diabetes mellitus,hyperlipidemia,psychiatric disorders,and true and false hermaphroditism.The SPSS26.0 software package was used for statistical software.The t-test was used for measurement data,and the χ2 test was used for count data.Univariate analysis was used to determine whether each variable had a significant effect on erectile function,and P <0.05 was considered a statistically significant difference.ResultIn the experimental group,testosterone and estrogen were significantly lower than those in the control group,and the difference was statistically significant(P < 0.05).There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of age,body mass index,number of smokers and percentage of drinkers,fasting glucose,total cholesterol,triglycerides,high-density lipoprotein,low-density lipoprotein,progesterone,follicle stimulating hormone,luteinizing hormone,prolactin,serum cortisol,and urinary epinephrine levels(P > 0.05).There was a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in IIEF-5 score,optimal erection hardness,penile tip swelling rate,number of effective penile erections,and mean effective erection time(P < 0.05),while there was no significant difference between the two groups in mean erection hardness and penile root swelling rate.Research conclusionPatients with adrenal tumors have different degrees of decrease in sexual function compared with normal population,among which the decrease is most obvious in pheochromocytoma,and patients with adrenal tumors have some improvement in sexual function after laparoscopic adrenal tumor resection.Hypertension,insufficient androgen secretion,excessive secretion of norepinephrine and aldosterone hormones may be the main causes of erectile dysfunction in men with adrenal tumors.