Peyronie's disease - Beyond the bend:Historical, epidemiological, clinical, genetic and molecular biological aspects

In spite of the increased knowledge on Peyronie’s disease (PD) over the past decades, there is no curative treatment up till now. We discuss recent guidelines and present an overview of nonsurgical treatments throughout the ages. We next summarise the long-term outcomes of surgical interventions in our hospital. Overall, we conclude that after surgical treatment of PD, sexual function improves to a level equal to that of untreated patients. However, results vary between the different interventions. For the vast majority of homosexual men a normal penile erection is of utmost importance. We discuss the effects of PD by interviews with a homosexual man suffering a mild curvature in relation to the limited literature. It shows that psychological effects can be more extensive than in heterosexual patients.PD, Dupuytren (DD) and Ledderhose disease are related fibroproliferative disorders. We report on a large DD population with a high prevalence of underreported concomittant PD. We therefore advise plastic surgeons to ask always for PD symptoms and to refer to a urologist. Previously, our group presented the association of PD with a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs4730775. We now present the first ever genome-wide association study for PD. SNPs within three loci were found to be significantly associated with PD. Lastly, we describe the effects of verteporfin (VP) in vitro. VP is a registered compound used in macular degeneration. Our results suggest inhibition of fibrosis in the YAP cascade