Antibiotics in the absence of signs and symptoms (which may include fever; altered mental status or malaise with no other cause; flank or pelvic pain; flank or suprapubic tenderness; hematuria; dysuria, urinary urgency or frequency; and, in spinal cord injury patients, increased spasticity, autonomic dysreflexia or sense of unease) is not efficacious and risks inducing resistance to antimicrobials. This applies to both indwelling and intermittent catheterization of the bladder. The major ...
Ultrasound has been found to have poor diagnostic performance in the localization of testes that cannot be felt through physical examination. Studies have shown that the probability of locating testes was small when using ultrasound, and there was still a significant chance that testes were present even after a negative ultrasound result. Additionally, ultrasound results are complicated by the presence of surrounding tissue and bowel
gas present in the abdomen.
It had previously been suggested that a course of antibiotics might lead to a decrease in an initially raised PSA and reduce the need for prostate biopsy; however, there is a lack of clinical studies to show that antibiotics actually decrease PSA levels. It should also be noted that a decrease in PSA does not indicate an absence of prostate cancer. There is no information available on the implications of deferring a biopsy following a
decrease in PSA.
When an initial evaluation shows only the presence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), if the symptoms are not significantly bothersome to the patient or if the patient doesn’t desire treatment, no further evaluation is recommended. Such patients are unlikely to experience significant health problems in the future due to their condition and can be seen again if necessary. [While the patient can often tell the provider if the symptoms are bothersome enough that he desires additional ...
While testosterone treatment is shown to increase sexual interest, there appears to be no significant influence on erectile function, at least not in men with normal testosterone levels. The information available in studies to date is insufficient to fully evaluate testosterone’s efficacy in the treatment of men with erectile dysfunction who have normal testosterone levels.