title: Koro-like symptoms in two Greek men.
abstract: Koro syndrome is a psychiatric disorder characterised, in its typical form, by acute and intense anxiety, with complaints in men of a shrinking penis or fear of its retraction into the abdomen and resultant death. Initially, this syndrome was described as a culture specific disorder. Sporadic cases referred to as the koro-like syndrome have been observed in western countries recently. They are more likely to appear in the context of a psychiatric or neurological disorder. The clinical course of culture bound koro syndrome is usually self limited, but in some cases it can be transient or take on a chronic or recurrent form, lasting from days to weeks, months or even years. We present two cases, one of a middle aged man whose koro-like symptoms have persisted for over 18 years in a relapse mode that is rarely observed, and one of a young schizophrenic, who also exhibits koro-like symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 2nd Psychiatric Department, Dodekanisou 2, Polichni, 56533, Greece.
authors.forename: Evangelos
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ntouros
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ntoumanis
authors.forename: Vasilios Panteleimon
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Bozikas
authors.forename: Stamatis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Donias
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Giouzepas
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garyfalos