The effect of transurethral alprostadil on the quality of life of men witherectile dysfunction, and their partners

Objective To evaluate the impact of treatment for erectile dysfunction on t he quality of life of men and their partners. Patients and methods The study included 249 men with organic erectile dysfu nction of more than 3 months' duration who self-administered transurethral alprostadil in an open-label, dose-escalating manner in an outpatient medic al setting. Patients with a sufficient response (159) were randomly assigne d in a double-blind protocol to either active medication or placebo for 3 m onths at home, Patients and partners each completed quality-of-life questio nnaires before and after treatment, Results In the clinic 159 of the 249 men (64%) had an erection sufficient f or intercourse when using transurethral alprostadil, At home, 46 of 67 men (69%) reported intercourse at least once on transurethral alprostadil, comp ared with eight of 73 (11%) on placebo (P < 0.001), Patients on alprostadil showed a 34% improvement in their 'relationship with partner', a 5% improv ement in 'personal wellness', and a 71% improvement in 'quality of erection ' domains, compared with a decline of 11%, 8% and 1%, respectively, in pati ents on placebo (P < 0.005 for each comparison). Partners of patients on al prostadil showed a 35% improvement in the 'relationship with partner' domai n, compared with a 12% improvement in the placebo group (P = 0.028). There was a trend toward improvement in other partner domains. Urogenital pain wa s reported by 14% of patients during home treatment. Conclusion The resumption of sexual intercourse with the use of transurethr al alprostadil was accompanied by an improvement in several important quali ty-of-life domains in patients and their partners.