NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Low-intensity extracorporeal shockwave therapy (LI-ESWT) can improve erectile function, according to a pilot study from Israel.

Twice a week for 3 weeks, 20 middle-aged men with vasculogenic erectile dysfunction (ED) received LI-ESWT at 5 different sites on the penile shaft and crura. After a pause of 3 weeks, the cycle was repeated.

A month after the end of treatment, all patients had significant improvement in International Index of Erectile Function ED domain scores, Dr. Yoram Vardi of Rambam Healthcare Campus, Haifa and colleagues reported online April 16th in European Urology.

These improvements remained unchanged at 6 months. Moreover, at the 6-month follow-up the men had significant increases in the duration of erection and penile rigidity, and significant improvement in penile endothelial function. Ten patients no longer needed oral ED therapy.

Placebo responses could have been high in this study, the authors admit, but they say the fact that the effect “was maintained without any additional active intervention 6 months after treatment provides additional evidence that LI-ESWT exerts a genuine physiologic effect on cavernosal tissue.”

Other studies have suggested that LI-ESWT promotes neovascularization, they note.

Reference:
Eur Urol 2010.