![]() “The ideal protocol is not only how many sessions the patient needs to have but also how many shock waves? And what energy level should we use to treat the patient with erectile dysfunction?” he said. Hatzichristodoulou said.Īlso see: Low T could hasten time to post-RP biochemical recurrence Ideal protocols for delivering the therapy also remain unclear, Dr. Studies suggest men with vasculogenic ED are among the most ideal candidates for shock wave therapy, but it’s not clear if they are the only ones. Next: Important unanswered questions Important unanswered questions ![]() “But according to the literature, we cannot say that.” “They are saying that shock wave therapy is the new treatment and should be the new standard of care,” Dr. Hatzichristodoulou continues to offer shock wave therapy only in the research setting and does not charge men for the treatment, providers in Europe and elsewhere are promoting the treatment and charging patients for it. “So, those studies cannot be compared, and we cannot draw conclusions for the general population of men suffering from erectile dysfunction.” The inclusion criteria, the exclusion criteria of patients, and even the endpoints of the studies were different. The shock wave devices used to do extracorporeal shock wave therapy were different. And in each of those studies, the treatment protocol was different to the other one. “There are a couple of reports in the literature of prospective, placebo-controlled studies. “A lot of studies that have been performed were not very well designed,” he said. Hatzichristodoulou, a member of the guideline committee.īut the efficacy and credibility of low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy for ED has come under criticism, according to Dr. ![]() ![]() The European Association of Urology guideline for erectile dysfunction recommends use of low-intensity shock wave treatment in mild organic erectile dysfunction patients or poor responders to phosphodiesterase type-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors, according to Dr. “The studies that have been performed in the last 6 years are very promising, especially with vasculogenic erectile dysfunction,” Dr. Read: Impact of poor sleep quality on urologic disease Georgios Hatzichristodoulou, MD, associate professor of urology at the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg in Germany, has conducted several of the European studies on use of shock wave therapy for erectile dysfunction and Peyronie’s disease. Where low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy for ED may offer the greatest patient benefit is in ED. Research on the use of shock wave therapy in Peyronie’s disease has shown it may improve penile pain, but not curvature. Without answers, offering the ED treatment outside research settings is questionable medicine, some urologists say. But there remain important unanswered questions, including which patients are ideal candidates and which protocol and devices are best. Low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy is a safe treatment for men with erectile dysfunction and might work to improve, or even cure, ED in some patients.
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