Penile Traction Therapy For Treatment Of Peyronie's Disease: A Single-Center Pilot Study

Main Category: Urology / Nephrology
Also Included In: Men's health;  Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Article Date: 10 May 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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UroToday.com - The pilot study and ongoing clinical experience indicates the vital importance of patient compliance if an improved outcome is to be gained from use of the Fastsize penile traction device. During the time of the study, other patients at the study site were being treated with intralesional Verapamil injections, a more aggressive treatment modality, with the expectation that superior outcomes would be achieved. It was, in fact, noted that a larger percentage of the study patients were achieving better results on traction alone. It was suspected that patient compliance was the determining factor. An absolute minimum of two hours use per day, four to six hours being ideal, are required to produce positive outcomes over a four to six month period with traction therapy. This is difficult for many patients to achieve, as are many treatments requiring dedicated self-monitored compliance. In designing the study protocol, it was decided to incorporate weekly calls to each subject. These calls were ostensibly made to encourage compliance, check on progress, to provide early identification of issues and to remind subjects of appointment dates. The calls also served the purpose of motivating the subject and of creating a sense of ongoing interest and support on the part of the researchers. This, it was felt, made a major difference in the level of subject compliance, and therefore the positive outcome achieved by all study subjects.

Since completion of the study in November of 2007, Dr. Levine has continued to focus interest on the potential of the Fastsize Extender as part of combination therapies using intralesional Verapamil and oral agents. It is felt that, with proper patient compliance, the combination of penile traction therapy and intralesional drugs may offer both accelerated and improved outcomes for Peyronie's patients. Data gathered by Dr. Levine at this time is not sufficient to support qualified statements about outcomes, but current protocols continue to explore the synergies between traction forces and the chemical effects of Verapamil.

Also, Levine and Newell, with other researchers, are developing studies on the potential for the device to help patients regain penile length following loss of penile length prior to, and following, radical prostatectomy, and prior to implantation of penile prosthetics. While the focus of the cited study was reduction of penile curvatures, it was also noted that patients also achieved gains in length. This may indicate that the device can help patients restore all or part of penile length lost as a result of penile atrophy following prolonged erectile dysfunction (ED).

Written by Laurence A. Levine, MD, Mark Newell, PhD, Frederick L. Taylor ,MD, as part of Beyond the Abstract on UroToday.com.

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