[Andrology - Whom and how are patients being referred?]

Abstract

Introduction: Andrology focuses in male sexual and fertility diseases. Its referral should be thoughtful and tailored in order to select the correct cases.

Objectives: The aim of this work was to evaluate the referral to our department and improvement points.

Material and methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of the Andrology consults between January 2014 and December 2015.

Results: We evaluated 96 of the 102 consults performed. About 60% of patients were referred with erectile dysfunction complaints, 15% with penile curvature and 8% with ejaculatory dysfunction. About 27% had previously tried phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor, and 40% lacked recent metabolic workup.

Discussion: The high prevalence of sexual complaints coupled with a high number of naïve patients could be due to difficulties by the referral doctors when analyzing and characterizing male sexual dysfunction according to the current sexual response cycle model. The lack of patient categorization accordingly to Princeton criteria (III) shows the difficulties found when selecting patients to start the first line of treatment for erectile dysfunction.

Conclusion: Sexual dysfunction are highly prevalent in the general population. Healthcare providers should improve diagnostic and treatment skills in this field of Urology.

Keywords: Andrologia; Andrology; Disfunção eréctil; Disfunção sexual; Ejaculação prematura; Erectile dysfunction; Premature ejaculation; Sexual dysfunction.