Shock Therapy May Improve Erectile Dysfunction

Shocking the penis with sound waves may help those who have severe erectile dysfunction that has not respond well to drug treatments, a new study finds.

Among men in the study, "extracorporeal shock wave therapy" significantly improved sexual function, the researchers said. The patients continued to see improvements two months after the treatment had stopped, and close to 30 percent of them achieved normal sexual function and no longer required medications.

Extracorporeal shock waves have been used to break up kidney stones, but the sound waves used in the study to treat erectile dysfunction (ED) were much less intense, the researchers said. No men reported pain or adverse events during treatment.

Physiology of Erectile Function and Dysfunction

Penile erection is the most obvious feature of the male body's response to sexual excitement. It is a complex neurovascular response, influenced by cognitive inputs and facilitated by testosterone. Other features of that response include increases in skin temperature, blood pressure, heart and breathing rates, facial and bodily flushing, dilation of the pupils, and nipple erection. There are also changes in skin's sensitivity to touch. These changes are similar in both men and women.

Erection response to sexual interest is the result of interplay between tactile, visual, auditory, and olfactory signals, combined with cognitive inputs, such as fantasy and memory (Figure 1). These stimuli may be erectogenic or erectolytic, pleasant or unpleasant, and are integrated in specific nuclei within the mid-brain. This balance between stimuli may result in pro-erectile signaling transmitted via the spinal cord, pelvic nerves and cavernous nerves running either side of the prostate gland, before finally terminating around the vascular smooth muscle of the corpora cavernosa.