Changing Trend in the Treatment Modalities of Erectile Dysfunction

Ahn, Seung Yong; Kim, Sae Chul

Abstract

There has been remarkable progress in the treatment of erectile dysfunction during last decade. We have analyzed 2,000 patients with erectile dysfunction who had been treated with a variety of treatment modalities during last 10 years to identify the annual changes in the proportion of the respective treatment modality. The most remarkable change was seen in the proportion of patients treated by vasoactive pharmacotherapy The proportion was 12.0% on 1984, which was gradually increased in time, and reached to 82.1% on 1994. Another remarkable change was found in the proportion of patients treated by surgery, especially vascular surgery : The proportion of patients treated by penile prosthesis implantation on 1985 and vein ligation on 1986 was 64.0% and 14.3%, respectively ; whereas, it was decreased to 1.8 % and 0% on 1994, respectively. In conclusion, we could find remarkable change of trend in the primary treatment modality for erectile dysfunction from invasive and costly surgical treatment to less invasive and cheap vasoactive pharmacotherapy. Nowadays, intracavernous self-injection of vasoactive agents plays a primary role in the treatment of impotence. Penile prosthesis implantation remains as the last treatment modality for erectile dysfunction. However, vascular surgery is rarely being performed nowadays because of its poor long-term outcome.