Evaluation of Therapy Effectiveness in Men with Different Erectile Dysfunction Severity

Abstract

Sexual health is an integral part of everyone’s quality of life. Sexual harmony depends on a man’s sexual desire and erectile function. The most common disorder of male sexual health is erectile dysfunction. Improving the treatment of patients with this pathology helps to improve both physical and mental health and thus improve the quality of life. The objective: the aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of combination course therapy and monotherapy in patients with erectile dysfunction. Materials and methods. The observation included 89 men with erectile dysfunction of mixed genesis aged 25 to 50 years with mild to moderate severity. All patients were divided into three groups. The I group of 32 patients with moderate ED, received during the month in the morning Bodrex 1 sachet 60 minutes before meals and in the evening Strondex one spray into the oral cavity (12,5 mg sildenafil), regardless of the presence or absence of sexual activity in this day and an additional 30 minutes before sexual intercourse from 12,5 to 25 mg, followed by a comparative assessment of clinical results immediately after treatment in relation to a group of patients (II group – 32), also with moderate ED who received sildenafil in tablet form dose of 25 mg 1 hour before sexual intercourse, but not more often than once a day. The third group (III group – 25) of patients consisted of men with mild ED, who received during the month only Bodrex in the morning 1 sachet 60 minutes before meals, with comparing clinical data before and after treatment. Bodrex and Strondex preparations are presented on the market by the pharmaceutical company Geolik Pharm Marketing Group. Results. The use of course combination therapy (Strondex + Bodrex) in the treatment of patients with moderate ED was found to be significantly more effective than sildenafil monotherapy at a dose of 50 mg on demand before sexual intercourse, as evidenced by subjective assessment of patients and objective data. Namely, the integrative indicator «erectile function» in this group of patients improved almost twice, while in the second group of patients this indicator improved by 62,9% (p<0,05). Accordingly «оverall satisfaction" in group I patients improved 2,3 times, and in group II patients 1,8 times. Dopplerosonography of the penis in patients with moderate ED showed a probable decrease in hemodynamics in the corpora cavernosa, which indicated the presence of vascular factor with impaired vascular endothelial function (p<0,05). After treatment, a more pronounced increase in cavernous blood flow occurred in group I, namely an increase in peak systolic velocity by 69,5%, while in group II by 38,5% (p1<0,05). It was noted that the concentration of ET-1 in the serum of patients with moderate ED was 3 times higher than the average in the group of almost healthy men, which may indicate severe endothelial dysfunction (p<0,05). Accordingly, after treatment, the level of ET-1 in the blood of patients decreased in group I, who received combination therapy, by 44,2%, while in group II by 28,3% (p1<0,05). Before treatment, the majority of patients with moderate ED, namely 78,1%, could not have sexual intercourse due to insufficient erection. After treatment in 53,1% of group I patients receiving combination therapy (Strondex + Bodrex), erection was completely restored, while in group II erection was completely restored in 28,1% of patients. Also, according to the obtained data, it should be noted a significant positive dynamics of all integrative indicators of IIEF on the background of taking Bodrex in patients with mild ED (p<0,05). An increase in the baseline «erectile function» by 1,4 times, contributed to an increase in sexual satisfaction and sexual satisfaction in general by 2,3 times. The mean peak systolic rate of cavernous blood flow before treatment in this group of patients was lower compared with the control group by 21,2% (p<0,05). This indicator improved after treatment by 21,7%, and became not significantly different from this indicator in the control group of almost healthy men (p1<0,05; p2>0,05), which indicated the normalization of hemodynamics in penis. In patients with mild ED, the concentration of ET-1 in the serum was 1,7 times higher than in the control group (p<0,05). After treatment, this index decreased by 1.5 times, approaching the rate in the group of almost healthy men (p2>0,05). Before treatment in this group, no patient had a complete erection, and less than half of the patients (45,5%) had a pratial erection. After a course of treatment with Bodrex, complete erection was restored in 68,2% of patients, and a total of 86,4% of patients were able to have sexual intercourse. Conclusions. The use of combination course therapy (Strondex + Bodrex) in patients with moderate ED and course monotherapy (Bodrex) in patients with mild ED contributes to a more stable clinical effect, as evidenced by the dynamics of the data.