Hope for those of us with penile tissue changes/damage?

Therapeutic Efforts
#1

Wondering if I can get anyone’s thoughts on these two stories and if they could point us toward a treatment to repair damaged penile tissue down the road.

Penis Tissue Regeneration Promises to Boost Membership
Uncategorized Add comments .Nov 11
2009.
Feats don’t phallus now, but they might before long if some very promising tissue regeneration and anatomical reconstruction applications proven successful in rabbits hop over to application in humans.

By all accounts, it represents the very best in “junk science.”

Live Science reports of the study and the subsequent findings that are slated for publication in the journal PNAS.

OK, stop snickering, this is serious science.

Damage to penile tissue stemming from injury or disease has been an extraordinarily difficult matter for patients and for the physicians treating them. Replicating the highly specialized cells that form naturally functioning male reproductive anatomy has proven elusive. Primary reconstructive techniques have largely been of a mechanical and prosthetic variety.

Doctors at Wake Forest University’s Baptist Medical Center’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC, have successfully demonstrated that these highly specialized cells can indeed be generated. Further still, following injection into the patient, the regenerated cells are capable of forming new, repaired anatomical structures that are fully functional for reproductive purposes.

The breakthrough procedure raises hopes among those who have been afflicted with injury, congenital abnormality, or who have suffered organ damage due to cancer.

And now for the obvious. Live Science notes that there may be interest in any procedure that becomes developed for humans for elective, cosmetic purposes. Medical researcher and study co-author Anthony Atala ponders the potential applications in a statement provided to Live Science:

“Our intent and the goal of our work is to provide a solution for men who need penile erectile tissue for medical reasons. Of course, you cannot control how the technology is used in terms of what patients want.”

And–

Artificial Penis Tissue Proves Promising in Lab TestsTuesday, November 10, 2009

One day artificial penis tissue could be grown to help men, new findings in rabbits now suggest.

After implantation with replacement tissue, lab rabbits that once had damaged penises had working organs and could produce offspring.

“Further studies are required, of course, but our results are encouraging and suggest that the technology has considerable potential for patients who need penile reconstruction,” said researcher Dr. Anthony Atala, director of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Such methods could potentially aid men who just want to enhance their normal penises, rather than repairing any damage.

“Our intent and the goal of our work is to provide a solution for men who need penile erectile tissue for medical reasons,” Atala told LiveScience. “Of course, you cannot control how the technology is used in terms of what patients want.”

The real hope is “that patients with congenital abnormalities, penile cancer, traumatic injury and some cases of erectile dysfunction will benefit from this technology in the future,” Atala said.

Read more: foxnews.com/story/0,2933,573579,00.html#ixzz1USB5iIcm

#2

but here, how many had penile echo for damage confirmation?

#3

I don’t really need a penile echo to know my penis is damaged… i just have to look at it and feel it.

I think this kind of research is very encouraging, It would great to get in touch with Dr. Atala and find out any updates about where this research is headed.

There is actually already a stem cell clinic in California that does stem cell injections for erectile dysfunction and peyronie’s disease. Though i don’t know their reputation. stemcellrevolution.com/treatment-programs/

The thing is i think we would need to fix whatever is the underlying problem, whatever it may be, before looking to this type of procedure. That said, it certainly gives hope that once we do figure that out, there will be means by which to tackle residual problems like penile tissue changes.

#4

I honestly don’t think anyone on this forum will suffer permanent penile tissue damage. If you find a way of fixing the core problem EVERYTHING will return to normal. I am not trying to belittle your condition, i am in terrible shape myself but even during very brief recoveries i have seen that my body hasn’t been permanently damaged. If you haven’t seen an erection for months or even years, i would be concerned then.

#5

Do you mean that tissue hasn’t been irreparably damaged? Or both tissue and internal systems such as hormone regulation and nerves?

#6

If you read my post you will see that i refer to penile tissue because that’s what the context of the topic is. As you have brought that question up though; i don’t believe any element of our bodily system is permanently damaged. I am not the only one to have seen there body return to normal functioning overnight. I don’t see why people would even be interested in looking at this type of treatment until the core issue has been resolved to be honest. Maybe if your penis hasn’t been erect for long durations of time (months/ years) there could be some tissue or nerve damage but is anyone on this forum that bad?

#7

I read your post. You refer to your body broadly after talking about penile damage two sentences prior. “My body” could refer to anything including penile tissue damage, but it does not exclude everything but penile tissue damage. As we isolate and discuss many different areas of the body and body systems that could be included in this category, including different physical areas of the penis (head, shaft, etc.) you can see the possible need for clarification. No need to be snippy.

I’m not fundamentally disagreeing with you, but I’ve gone more than a month without an erection and I’m sure I’m not the only one here.

#8

I’m very noticeably smaller in all dimensions, even when I manage a full erection. My shrinkage was very extreme and literally occured overnight at crash. Woke up 50% less than I was the day before. As I’m sure everyone understands, this causes me the most anxiety. I can also tell there has been damage. Tissue is more fibrotic and with the noticeable vein on the left. I also get pain and aching. Maybe this is a good sign and there is still some nerves undamaged. As Mariobros said, I did mean after we get whatever the core issue is here treated “successfully”. Hopefully penile tissue regeneration technology has further improved by then as well.

As Martin, I’ve also gone weeks (not sure if it was quite a month at any time) without an erection. Toward the end of those periods I usually feel improvement but mainly from mental sides.

#9

imao without an echo we cant have an objective view

#10

I gotta agree with Mario here. My penis structure is a mess. It’s fiberous and shrunken. I guess I’m at least thankful I have some feeling (I know others don’t) even though that feeling is an ache and nothing pleasureable. I’d like to think there’s no permanent damage but it certainly doesn’t look healthy at all. I’d almost be afraid to know the results of an echo.

#11

So does mine; right now i can barely even look at it because it just makes me go crazy. I am just trying to reassure you that in my case it all went away so easily during a couple of good periods, therefore i would assume that if you properly cured yourself the same would happen to anyone else.

#12

if it’s not permanent could be something different

also urologysts that i saw didn’t say anything about fibrosis without an echo.
they can only state that there r or not plaques.

i mean that with an eye inspection we miss alot about the grounds of shrink-deshaping pattern.

like an overnight shrink sounds crazy to say that is fibrosis

#13

My penis has a tough guitar string like thread that runs down the dorsal part of my penis (septum i believe it is called) prominent veins that weren’t there before and an all around look of having been taken taken to by a bodybuilding chef with a tenderising mallet.

I hope you’re right, and maybe when we fix this our penises will just go back to normal. If not, well I’m glad to see there may be some sort of a contingency plan we can fall back on.

#14

What a nightmare.

A potential future drug that may help is called Xiaflex although it has yet to be proven. Currently in trials and used off-label to beat Peyronies. Guess which doctor has special permission to use it? None other than our own Dr Irwin Goldstein. peyronies-disease.co.uk/2011/06/collagenase-xiaflex-trial-uk-update.html

This paper talks about penile rehabilitation options in some depth: andrologyjournal.org/cgi/content/full/31/4/324

Stem cells also might be the answer. This company in Germany used to offer stem cell therapy for erectile dysfunction, but now has sadly shut down. xcell-center.com/ :frowning:

#15

Interesting they shut that place down, and I’m glad. They just bumped 20 grand from a friend for MS treatment, it didn’t help at all. Plus that guy who was on here last year seemed to be spamming for them, saying they cured his ED and it turned out to be nonsense. I’m amazed that they were allowed to operate in Germany so long given that stem cells haven’t been approved or properly tested for anything yet.

I think we will be waiting a very long time for the treatment boston332 mentions. Gene therapy for ED has been trumpeted for a long time and is still many years away. These developments take forever.

I’ve actually forgotten what my dick used to look like. The foreskin is darker and has veins, also sags due to the loss of length and girth which happened within a day or so like boston mentions. Size is still respectable but I was blessed with good girth and now it’s normal but feels skinny to me. Don’t care about size just want it to reliably work. Also miss the big throbbing, sensitive purple glans I used to have. Thank you Merck/FDA.

Oscar, have you considered the vacuum? Also supposed to be good for restoring size in some cases.

#16

I had come across that xcell place in Germany before. I thought they were very suspicious as they seemed to make very grand claims on their website without any trials or patients to back it up.

I am a member of another peyronie’s forum i visit rather infrequently, so i have heard of xiaflex. i got the feeling though that it was more for correcting a curve by dissolving dense scar tissue rather than general fibrosis. I think because it dissolves collagen you have to be careful about where you inject as you need collagen in your penis, just not everywhere.

There is a thread on that forum about using stem cells and the Californian Stem Cell Center. It seems they have only treated a handful of people for peyronie’s based on correspondence people have posted so it was “too early to tell results” in their words. A few people on that forum said that was a sign that they were shady buy i don’t really agree, they were just being upfront i think.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but in my opinion there seems to be something underhanded going on with the gene therapy for ED trials. Not with the treatment, in fact i think maybe the first human trial has gone too well, and big pharma has gotten into their ear and “convinced” them to slow down their research. Think how much the producers of the big three ED drugs would lose if people had the option instead of an injection once every six months. You think they want to let that happen? At least not while they still have patents active. I mean you come up with a treatment that promising, for a market that big, and your phase 2 trial is held up for close to 2 years plus, for “lack of funding”? come on man. Add that to the fact that the FDA blocked approval for a topical aprostadil, Vitaros (a drug already approved for many years as an injectable) even though it was approved in Canada and Europe. Someone is paying big bucks to keep out the competition i think.