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Impotence in men can be treated with sound waves

Alexey Portnov, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024

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31 October 2011, 20:43

Erectile dysfunction (impotence) in men can be treated with sound waves, scientists from the Israel Medical Center "Rambam" have proved.

Patients who underwent "extracorporeal shock wave therapy" recovered on average 3 weeks after the start of treatment and continued to show improvement within 2 months after the end of the course. About 30% of patients returned to normal, and they did not need further treatment. No patient complained of pain or undesirable phenomena.

The shock wave therapy method is used to destroy kidney stones. In addition, sound waves with low intensity improve the flow of blood to the heart, causing the vascular regeneration. Therefore, researchers and suggested that sound waves could improve the flow of blood to the penis.

Previous studies have shown that this works in the case of moderate impotence. This time participants were voluntarily selected with a disorder in severe form of erectile dysfunction, which were not helped by other methods of treatment. The average assessment of severity of the disease in the group was 8.8 (10 and lower - a serious disorder, 26-30 - a normal erection). Two months later, this figure rose by ten points.

The average age of the patients was 61 years. They underwent 12 procedures for 9 weeks. A month after the end of treatment, they were prescribed medicinal preparations.

At the same time, this study was small - only 29 people, so it remains unclear: maybe this is nothing more than a placebo effect.

trusted-source [1], [2]

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