John Doe 1

     Patient John Doe underwent transurethral thermotherapy of the prostate (TUMT) for prostatitis with some success. He later underwent TUMT again. At the second TUMT, John Doe believes the machine was mistakenly set at too high a temperature.

     He immediately suffered acute urinary retention. He had to be catheterized to urinate. He suffered tremendous pain. The first time he tried to ejaculate, no semen came out, and he felt terrible bilateral pain. Both his ejaculatory ducts had been obstructed. Over 6 month’s time, his left ejaculatory duct would open up and half his semen appeared again during orgasm; however, the right side remained obstructed.

     Joe Doe underwent two transurethral operations to try to open his right ejaculatory duct. Both operations were failures. Finally, he went to see Dr. Giovanni Colpi, who performed a seminal vesicle washout procedure, which re-opened his obstructed ejaculatory duct.

     A similar case has been reported in the medical literature:

Colpi GM, Negri L, Patrizio P, Pardi G: Fertility restoration by seminal tract washout in ejaculatory duct obstruction. J Urol. 1995 Jun;153(6):1948-50.

     “In select cases seminal tract washout may be a valid alternative to the conventional transurethral surgical approach for acquired obstruction of the ejaculatory ducts.”

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Written for the Ejaculatory Duct Obstruction Foundation (EjaculatoryDuctObstruction.org) on October 12, 2004.