Post-finasteride syndrome: our current knowledge

Abstract

5-α reductase inhibitors are effective and commonly used medications for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. However, there are some questions about the safety of such medications. A post-finasteride syndrome is a controversial syndrome associated with a constellation of sexual, physical, and psychological symptoms that develop during or after finasteride exposure and persist after discontinuation. Finasteride and dutasteride have the same mechanism of action and we can suppose that the term «post-finasteride syndrome» may apply to the whole group of 5-alfa reductase inhibitors. Nowadays, reasons and development mechanisms of this syndrome are unclear. The results of studies on sexual, physical, and psychological disorders have shown mixed results. Some experts attribute post-finasteride syndrome to a group of «mysterious diseases» based on psychosocial factors. Also, we need new studies with better design because reasons and development mechanisms of this syndrome are unclear.Aleksandr A. Galushkin and Dmitriу G. Likhikh are employees GlaxoSmithKline Trading, Michael I. Kogan declares no conflict of interest.