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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Synergistic efficacy of low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave and platelet-rich plasma on erectile dysfunction
1 Nursing Department, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
2 Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
3 Department of Urology, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
4 TMU Research Center of Urology and Kidney, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
5 Victory Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan
6 Executive Programme in Healthcare Management, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, Lucknow, India
7 Baba Kinaram Autonomous State Medical College Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh, India
8 Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
9 Department of Urology, Department of Surgery, Taipei City Hospital Ren-Ai Branch, Taipei, Taiwan
10 Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
11 Clinical Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
12 School of Dental Technology, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
Correspondence should be addressed: Ming-Che Liu
Taipei, Taiwan 11031; wt.ude.umt@200790402d
Acknowledgements: we are grateful to TCM Biotech International Corp., New Taipei City, Taiwan to provide VertePLT Plus Platelet Concentrate Separator (VertePLT) to prepare PRP for therapeutic application in ED patients.
Author contribution: Lee YC, Yang TD — Idea of the study, methodology, data analysis, investigation, validation, Writing-original draft (# Equal first authors); Chen WC, Dubey NK, Chaturvedi H, Huang AC, Chang CH, Lin CC — data analysis, investigation, validation; Liu MC — data analysis, investigation, validation, Writing-Review and Editing, Supervision.
Compliance with ethical standards: this study was approved by Taipei Medical University-Joint Institutional Review Board (IRB No. N201907013) and Taiwan FDA (TFDA: Case No. 1086614281) and registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (accessed on 04 June 2020) (NCT04416802). A written informed consent was obtained from the subjects enrolled.
Erectile dysfunction (ED), an unusual sexual condition in which the person fails to attain or sustain an erectile penis, severely impacts personal relationships, confidence, and efficiency. To date, low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy (Li-ESWT) is an option to manage ED; however, it is associated with adverse events such as bruising, redness, and pain. Hence, in this study, we applied platelet-rich plasma (PRP), a blood-derived biomaterial containing cargo of growth factors, to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of Li-ESWT on ED. We assessed the synergistic effect of PRP+Li-ESWT, in which Li-ESWT was extracorporeally applied simultaneously with PRP. They were evaluated clinically at 22 ± 2, 50 ± 2 and 78 ± 2 days. Statistical analysis was performed using a non-parametric test, Friedman repeated measures as an alternative non-parametric test of ANOVA test. The international index of erectile function (IIEF-5) and erection hardness score (EHS) were recorded. IIEF-5 score in the pre-treated group was 8.36 ± 1.44. After 22 ± 2 days of synergistic PRP+Li-ESWT treatment, the score was 14.45 ± 2.12 (p < 0.028). This score further increased to 15.45 ± 1.93 (p < 0.008) and 16.18 ± 1.48 (p < 0.001) after 50 ± 2 days and 78 ± 2 days of treatment, respectively. The mean pre-treated EHS was 1.64 ± 0.20 (p < 0.002), which increased to 2.81 ± 0.26 (p < 0.002), 3.09 ± 0.25 (p < 0.0002) and 3.18 ± 0.12 (p < 0.000) on day 22 ± 2, 50 ± 2 and 78 ± 2 days, respectively. Conclusively, our study demonstrated potent synergistic therapy of PRP+Li-ESWT in ED treatment by improving IIEF-5 and EHS scores. However, extensive mechanism-based clinical studies are needed to reach a consensus.
Keywords: erectile dysfunction, Li-ESWT, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), IIEF-5, EHS