Treatment of Peyronie's disease by extracorporeal shockwave therapy: Evaluation of our preliminary results

Background: Peyronie's disease is an idiopathic disorder of the penis that produces erectile dysfunction, It affects mainly the tunica albuginea, We d escribe our preliminary results with extracorporal shockwave therapy (ESWT) as a new noninvasive modality for the treatment of Peyronie's disease. Patients and Methods: In this study, 24 patients aged 36 to 67 years were t reated with ESWT on the Lithostar overhead-module (Siemens), All our patien ts had unsuccessful medical treatment before ESWT, The average plaque was 7 x 15 mm, The number of shockwaves ranged from 15,000 to 25,000 (18-21 kV) delivered in four to ten sessions. Most patients needed local anesthesia be fore therapy. Results: Four patients (17%) showed marked improvement and complete remissi on of the penile deviation. Six patients (25%) showed partial remission wit h painless erections after treatment. Four patients had painless erections after treatment but still had some penile deviation. In 10 patients (41%), ESWT failed, necessitating subsequent penile surgery. Conclusions: Our preliminary results with a response rate of 59% with ESWT for Peyronie's disease, including a 17% complete remission rate, is encoura ging. However, further multicenter studies will have to prove if ESWT is a real therapeutic option for this disease.