TERAPIA DELLE FLOGOSI ACUTE DELLO SCROTO. VALUTAZIONE DEGLI ESITI CON COLOR-DOPPLER

To determine the incidence of acute persistent epididymo-orchitis due to acute inflammatory disease which did not resolve after therapy and the sensitivity of color-Doppler ultrasound (US), 101 patients, aged 18-68 years, presenting acute scrotal inflammation, were re-examined after appropriate antibiotic therapy. In all patients the diagnosis of acute epididymo-orchitis had been primarily clinical and based on results of history, physical examination and laboratory findings. The clinical diagnosis was then confirmed by color-Doppler US examination. Patients in which an ultimate diagnosis of scrotal inflammation had not been confirmed by color-Doppler US (2 cases), those in which a presumed viral orchitis (2 cases), or bearing complications (3 cases) were not included in the study. In 5 patients, all asymptomatic, color-Doppler signals from the epididymis and/or from the testis, due to phlogistic process were still present; all these patients have been submitted to further therapeutic treatments and color-Doppler US examinations until complete recovery. We therefore emphasize the incidence of acute persistent epididymo-orchitis due to acute phlogoses which apparently resolved after therapy only and the roll of color-Doppler US not only in the diagnosis of acute inflammatory diseases and of their complications, but also in the evaluation of therapeutic results.