The COVID-19 pandemic — what have urologists learned?

On 11 March 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic and COVID-19 emerged as one of the biggest challenges in public health and economy in the twenty-first century. The respiratory tract has been the centre of attention, but COVID-19-associated complications affecting the genitourinary tract are reported frequently, raising concerns about possible long-term damage in these organs. The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, which has a central role in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) invasion, is highly expressed in the genitourinary tract, indicating that these organs could be at a high risk of cell damage. The detection of SARS-CoV-2 in urine and semen is very rare; however, COVID-19 can manifest through urological symptoms and complications, including acute kidney injury (AKI), which is associated with poor survival, severe structural changes in testes and impairment of spermatogenesis, and hormonal imbalances (mostly secondary hypogonadism). The effect of altered total testosterone levels or androgen deprivation therapy on survival of patients with COVID-19 was intensively debated at the beginning of the pandemic; however, androgen inhibition did not show any effect in preventing or treating COVID-19 in a clinical study. Thus, urologists have a crucial role in detecting and managing damage of the genitourinary tract caused by COVID-19.