Patent Application
20100061972
Peyronie's disease is an idiopathic condition resulting in penile deformity and disability as the result of scarring and contracture within the tunica albugines of the corpora cavernosa. The scarring takes the form of plaques or masses of dense fibrous tissue and results in a curvature of the penis during erection. Peyronie's disease may result in pain or discomfort during erection, ejaculation and/or intercourse. The etiology of Peyronie's disease is not known, however, several factors have been associated with a greater likelihood of Peyronie's disease including a history of Dupuytren's disease, diabetes, use of beta-blocker therapy and hypertension (Sommer et al. 2002, International Journal of Impotence Research, 14(5): 379-383).
One-third of patients suffering from Peyronie's disease improve without treatment within about 18 months. The remainder of patients require surgical or pharmacologic treatment. Drugs that may be used in the treatment of Peyronie's disease include vitamin E, colchicine, verapamil and calcium channel blockers. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,539 describes the use of the enzyme collagenase for the treatment of Peyronie's disease.
Since Peyronie's disease is associated with symptoms that may be considered to be embarrassing, patients are often reluctant to discuss their symptoms with their physicians. Consequently, patients suffering from Peyronie's disease often go undiagnosed and untreated. It would be advantageous to develop a method for identifying patients suffering from the symptoms and adverse effects of Peyronie's disease and that would allow patients to communicate their symptoms with candor and without embarrassment.
The invention is directed to methods of treating patients suffering from Peyronie's disease, methods of identifying patients suffering from Peyronie's disease, a computer program for identifying patients suffering from Peyronie's disease and a computer program for determining the suitability of collagenase therapy.
In one embodiment, the invention is directed to a method of treating patients suffering from Peyronie's disease wherein the method comprises:
In another embodiment, the invention is a computer program embodied on a computer readable medium for identifying a patient suffering from Peyronie's disease comprising:
The invention additionally encompasses methods of diagnosing Peyronie's disease and to methods of determining the suitability of collagenase therapy.
A description of preferred embodiments of the invention follows.
The words “a” and “an” are meant to encompass one or more unless otherwise specified.
In one embodiment, the invention is directed to a method of treating Peyronie's disease by administering collagenase, a method for determining the suitability of collagenase therapy, and/or to a method of diagnosing Peyronie's disease in a patient suspected of suffering therefrom comprising the following steps:
In additional embodiments, the inventive methods further comprise administering collagenase to said patient suffering from Peyronie's disease.
“Treating” or “treatment” includes preventing or delaying the onset of the symptoms, complications, or biochemical indicia of a disease, alleviating or ameliorating the symptoms or arresting or inhibiting further development of the disease, condition, or disorder.
A subjective parameter is the patient's subjective impression with respect to a symptom of Peyronie's disease and includes the experience of pain or discomfort or the severity of that pain or discomfort during intercourse, erection or ejaculation.
An information set comprises data provided by the patient or responses to questions asked of the patient either verbally or in writing. According to the present invention, the information set is gathered using a written questionnaire, such as a confidential written questionnaire. In one embodiment, the information set comprises subjective parameters relating to the presence and severity of pain before an erection (or in a non-erect penis) and/or during at least one of intercourse, ejaculation or erection (whether it be spontaneous or in response to stimuli). In another embodiment, the information set comprises subjective parameters relating to the presence and severity of pain before an erection and/or during at least two of erection, intercourse, or ejaculation (e.g. intercourse and ejaculation; erection and intercourse; and erection and ejaculation, e.g., as a result of masturbation). In another embodiment, the information set comprises subjective parameters relating to the presence and severity of pain before an erection and/or during all three of intercourse, ejaculation or erection.
In other embodiments, the information set can further comprise one or more different sets of responses to questions such as those relating to the experience of pain or discomfort during intercourse, erection or ejaculation, those relating to the level of pain or discomfort experienced and those relating to the patient's distress or negative thoughts or feeling regarding the experience of pain, discomfort or physical symptoms. In one embodiment, the information set comprises responses to a first set of questions directed to the experience of pain or discomfort during intercourse, erection or ejaculation and a second set of questions directed to the level of pain or discomfort experienced. The level of pain or discomfort experienced can be described using a numerical scale. The presence of pain or discomfort experienced can also be described qualitatively. In an additional embodiment, the information set further comprises a third set of questions directed to the patient's distress or negative thoughts or feelings associated with the experience of pain or discomfort. Such questions include those directed to the effect of the pain, discomfort or physical symptoms on the patient's mood, self-esteem and/or lifestyle.
Physical symptoms of Peyronie's disease include, but are not limited to, curvature of the penis during erection and the formation of a fibrous plaque.
A standardized symptom profile of a patient suffering from Peyronie's disease is a data set comprising a group of symptoms of Peyronie's disease experienced by persons suffering from the disease. As used herein, a “group” is meant to signify at least two.
The standardized symptom profile is typically compiled by identifying at least one symptom selected from the group consisting of pain or discomfort during intercourse, ejaculation or erection, physical symptoms, negative thoughts or feelings associated with having pain or discomfort, and combinations thereof wherein the symptoms are associated with Peyronie's disease. In one embodiment, the standardized symptom profile includes at least 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or more symptoms.
In some embodiments, the information set gathered from the patient is compared to the standardized symptom profile and the patient is identified as suffering from Peyronie's disease when the patient is identified as suffering from at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more symptoms included in the standardized symptom profile.
In addition to comparing the information set gathered from the patient in order to determine whether the patient is suffering from Peyronie's disease, the patient can also be physically examined by a medical practitioner such as a urologist. In one embodiment, the information set gathering is preceded by physical examination. In another embodiment, the information set is followed by physical examination. Information gathered from the physical examination as well as that from the information set can be used to identify a patient as suffering from Peyronie's disease or to determine the suitability of collagenase treatment.
Collagenase is an enzyme that has the specific ability to digest collagen. It is derived commercially from fermentation by Clostridium histolyticum, and is purified by a chromatographic technique. It is available in several levels of purity, containing from substantial to essentially zero amounts of other proteinases.
The use of collagenase for the treatment of patients suffering from Peyronie's disease has been described in the literature, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,539, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. Methods of administering collagenase include injection into a fibrous Peyronie's plaque. In some embodiments, the penis is immobilized immediately after injection. Methods of immobilization include wrapping with sufficient gauze bandage and in such a way as to form a bulky dressing, and/or by the patient's donning an athletic supporter. The immobilization can be continued for several hours, for example from about 4 to about 12 hours. Typically, if the injection takes place during the early part of the afternoon, the dressing/support is removed at bedtime.
The amount and concentration of collagenase used is that amount and concentration which is effective to soften and/or rupture the plaque. In one embodiment, a collagenase solution as described in U.S. Ser. No. 11/335,157, filed on Jan. 19, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference is administered. The collagenase is injected into the Peyronie's plaque to provide a total amount of at least about 20,000 ABC units of collagenase in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier in a concentration of about 20,000 to about 40,000 ABC units per ml. The total amount may be applied by way of one or more injections. The maximum cumulative total dosage can be limited to about 60,000 ABC units. In a preferred embodiment, 0.58 mg of highly purified Clostridial collagenase having a 1:1 mass ratio of the colG and colH is administered.
The invention may additionally encompass a computer program embodied on a computer readable medium for identifying a patient suffering from Peyronie's disease or determining the suitability of collagenase therapy comprising:
In some embodiments, the computer program further comprises:
In another embodiment, a computer program may have a code segment for representing the standardized symptom profile and a code segment for representing the answers to a questionnaire (whether administered orally, in writing, or by another aspect of a computer program), wherein the computer program is adapted to compare the answers to the standardized symptom profile and thereby identify a patient suffering from Peyronie's disease.
In an additional embodiment, the invention is directed to a written questionnaire comprising at least three questions directed to the experience of pain or discomfort during intercourse, erection or ejaculation, the level of pain or discomfort experienced or to the patient's distress or negative thoughts or feeling regarding the experience of pain and discomfort. In another embodiment, the questionnaire comprises a first set of questions directed to the experience of pain or discomfort during intercourse, erection or ejaculation and a second set of questions directed to the level of pain or discomfort experienced. In a further embodiment, the written questionnaire further comprises a third set of questions directed to the patient's distress or negative thoughts or feelings associated with the experience of pain or discomfort. In yet another embodiment, the written questionnaire comprises questions substantially as shown in Tables 1 to 3.
While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/089,944, filed on Aug. 19, 2008. The entire teachings of the above application(s) are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61089944 | Aug 2008 | US |
