The Effect of Adjunct Mechanical Traction on Penile Length in Men Undergoing Primary Treatment for Peyronie's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

To accurately characterize the effect of penile traction therapy (PTT) on stretched penile length (SPL) after primary treatment for men with PD. A systematic search was performed for studies that evaluated the correction of PD using penile traction as secondary treatment published through January 2018. Studies were included if (1) a singular primary treatment of PD (injection or surgical treatment) was performed for all included men, (2) if there was a control group with no adjunct traction, and (3) if patients were required to wear the traction device for greater than 2 h/d. Estimates were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Data were obtained from 4 studies involving 348 men with an average age of 55.7 ± 2.0 years. Men who used PTT after primary intervention had SPLs 1.02 cm greater [95% CI: 0.64 to 1.40; I2=0%] when compared with men who did not use traction after primary intervention (p = 0.009). When performing subgroup analysis by primary therapy, no difference was seen in men undergoing penile traction after surgical correction when compared with men undergoing penile traction after injection therapy (1.01 vs 1.29 cm, p = 0.84). PTT may be a promising technique to reduce length loss in men undergoing PD treatment. Future work should be done to determine the ideal timing and subpopulations who would benefit from PTT.