Amr Abdel Raheem, Giulio Garaffa, Tarek Abdel Raheem, Michelle Dixon,
Amanda Kayes, Nim Christopher and David Ralph
Department of Urology, St Peter’s Hospitals and The Institute of, Urology, London, UK
Accepted for publication 27 November 2009
OBJECTIVE
To assess the efficacy of vacuum therapy in
mechanically straightening the penile
curvature of Peyronie’s disease (PD).
PATIENTS AND METHODS
Modelling of the tunica albuginea has been
shown to be possible during penile implant
surgery and this principle has been applied
as an alternative conservative therapy. In
all, 31 patients with PD (mean duration
9.9 months; mean age 51 years, range 24–
71) completed the study. Over a 12-week
period, the patients used a vacuum device
(Osbon ErecAid®, MediPlus, High Wycombe,
UK) for 10 min twice daily. The assessment
at study entry and at completion after
12 weeks included the International Index of
Erectile Function questionnaire, a perceived
pain intensity score, stretched penile length
measurement and the angle of penile
deformity after an intracavernous injection
with prostaglandin E1.
RESULTS
There was a clinically and statistically
significant improvement in penile length,
angle of curvature and pain after 12 weeks
of using the vacuum pump. Of the 31
patients, 21 had a reduction in the angle of
curvature by 5–25
°
, three had worsening of the curvature and there was no change in
the remaining seven. The curvature was
corrected surgically in 15 patients while the
remaining 16 (51%) were satisfied with the
outcome.
CONCLUSION
Vacuum therapy can improve or stabilize the
curvature of PD, is safe to use in all stages of
the disease, and might reduce the number of
patients going on to surgery.