Low-intensity shockwave therapy in Peyronie's disease: long-term results from a prospective, randomized, sham-controlled trial.

Abstract

Low-intensity shockwave therapy (LiST) is an effective treatment for pain reduction in patients with Peyronie's disease (PD). We aimed to report the long-term results of a previously published randomized, sham-controlled trial on LiST for PD management. For the initial study, 102 patients with stable PD were randomly assigned to six sessions of LiST (n = 51) or sham (n = 51) therapy. All participants were subsequently contacted for an additional evaluation at 3 years after completion of the initial treatment and 63 of them (LiST = 34 and sham therapy = 29) presented for the evaluation. Among them, improvement of pain was reported in 23 participants (LiST = 16, sham = 7, p = 0.005) at 4 weeks and in 22 (LiST = 15, sham = 7, p = 0.031) at 3 years. We detected a mean difference of 2.2 points (95%CI: 0.9-3.5, p = 0.002) in the visual analog pain scale at 4 weeks and a mean difference of 2.5 points (95%CI: 1-4, p = 0.002) at 3 years between the two groups. No treatment-related complications occurred during the sessions or the follow-up period. Regarding the improvement of penile curvature or sexual function, no significant differences between the two groups were observed. Overall, LiST constitutes a safe and effective therapeutic approach for pain management both in the short- and long term.