Low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy of vasculogenic erectile dysfunction – three-week treatment in a cohort of North Italian patients

Abstract

Introduction/Objective Although phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE 5) inhibitors represent the gold standard for medical treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED), they are not curative. Over the recent years, low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy (LI-ESWT) has been proposed as a valid non-invasive therapy approach for ED. The aim of our work is to assess the shortened, three-week low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy of vasculogenic ED.

Methods The study involved 32 patients with an International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) score between 5 and 20, and whose vasculogenic ED had been proven through Doppler ultrasound. All the patients had a washout period of one month after previous therapy and agreed to discontinue the PDE5-I therapy during the follow-up. The LI-ESWT was applied for three weeks, twice weekly, without repeating. The patients were evaluated at baseline, after one, three, and six months with the IIEF, Doppler ultrasound, and the Beck Depression Inventory.

Results All investigated parameters (International Index of Erectile Function, Beck Depression Inventory and penile Doppler ultrasound parameters) showed statistically significant improvement just one month after the treatment, compared to pre-treatment values, in all investigated domains. The international index of erectile function passed from baseline values of 12.75 ± 4.62 to 14.87 ± 5.04 at one month after treatment (p < 0.01). This trend remained positive in IIEF and all the parameters tested at the three-month and six-month follow-up.

Conclusion The shortened three-week low-intensity shock wave treatment of vasculogenic erectile dysfunction proved to be clinically effective.

Keywords: erectile dysfunction; low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy; International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF); Doppler ultrasound; Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)