Efficacy and safety of dorsal penile nerve block before collagenase of clostridium histolyticum injections in peyronie's disease patients: Results from a prospective pilot study

Injection therapy in the acute phase of Peyronie's disease: a systematic review of current evidence

BACKGROUND

Injection therapy has emerged as a possible treatment for the acute phase of Peyronie's disease (PD).

AIM

To systematically review the current evidence on the efficacy and safety of injection therapy for patients in the acute phase of PD.

METHODS

A comprehensive bibliographic search on the MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection databases was conducted in June 2024. Articles were selected if they included patients with PD in acute phase (P) undergoing injection therapy (I) with or without comparison with other treatments (C), evaluating its efficacy or safety (O). Prospective and retrospective original studies were included (S). Articles were assessed for risk of bias using Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials version 2, risk of bias in non-randomized studies-of interventions, and Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tool. Data were synthesized narratively.

OUTCOMES

Primary outcomes were penile curvature, penile pain, and adverse events.

RESULTS

A total of 20 studies (1291 patients) were included, with 4 (20%) being randomized controlled trials. The mean/median duration of PD symptoms ranged from 2.0 to 18.6 months across the papers. The injectable agents tested included calcium channel blockers, hyaluronic acid, Collagenase Clostridium histolyticum, interferon, and corticosteroids. In most studies, improvements in penile curvature and pain were observed, with variable magnitude and in a varying percentage of patients. Adverse events were mostly mild and localized, including bruising, swelling, and ecchymosis. No severe complications were reported in any of the studies.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Limited evidence support the feasibility of injection therapy for the acute phase of PD.

STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS

The first systematic review on injection therapy for acute PD. Low-to-intermediate quality and heterogeneous methodology of primary studies, impossibility of reliable quantitative data synthesis.

CONCLUSION

Injection therapy for the acute phase of PD demonstrates variable efficacy depending on the agent used and a relatively favorable safety profile; however, the overall quality of evidence remains low and is characterized by significant methodological limitations.

Pudendal nerve block decreases narcotic requirements and time spent in post-anesthesia care units in patients undergoing primary inflatable penile prosthesis implantation

Efforts to minimize narcotic usage following inflatable penile prosthesis (IPP) implantation are vital, considering the current opioid epidemic in the United States. We aimed to determine whether pudendal nerve block (PNB) utilization in a multiethnic population undergoing primary IPP implantation can decrease rates of post-operative opiate usage. A single-institution, retrospective study was conducted on patients who underwent primary IPP implantation between December 2015 and June 2022. PNB usage and intra- and post-operative outcomes were analyzed using multivariate binary logistic regression. 449 patients were included, with 373 (83.1%) in the PNB group. Median time (minutes) spent in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) (1499 [119-198] vs. 235 [169-322], p < 0.001) was significantly lower in the PNB group. There were no significant differences in intra-operative and PACU morphine milligram equivalents or post-operative safety outcomes between groups. However, fewer patients in the PNB group called for pain medications post-operatively (10.2% vs 19.7%, p = 0.019). Multivariate analysis revealed a significantly decreased operative time (B -6.23; 95%CI -11.28, -1.17; p = 0.016) and decreased time in recovery (B: -81.62; 95%CI: -106.49, -56.76, p < 0.001) in the PNB group. PNB decreases post-operative opioid analgesic requirements and time spent in PACU in patients undergoing a primary IPP implantation and thus may represent an attractive, non-opioid adjunct.

Comparative study between intrathecal fentanyl and dorsal penile nerve block for controlling postoperative pain after inflatable penile prosthesis implantation

OBJECTIVES

To compare the efficacy of intrathecal fentanyl and dorsal penile nerve block for postoperative pain management in patients undergoing inflatable penile prosthesis (IPP).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A prospective single-center study included 80 patients amenable to IPP. Patients were divided equally into two groups. Group I included 40 patients who were managed with spinal anesthesia with intrathecal fentanyl before undergoing IPP. Group II comprised 40 patients who received spinal anesthesia with dorsal penile block before IPP. Study groups were compared regarding postoperative VAS (Visual Analog Scale) scores, total narcotics consumption, patient satisfaction levels, and perioperative complications.

RESULTS

The study groups were comparable regarding baseline patients' criteria. The operative time was comparable between the study groups, with group I and group II having respective median times of 64 minutes (interquartile range: 55-78) and 67 minutes (interquartile range: 56-81) (p = 0.65). Additionally, both groups demonstrated similar distributions in IPP implant cylinder and reservoir size (p = 0.9). Postoperative pain was higher in group I, with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001). Eight patients in group I (20%) called the physician's office asking for pain medication, compared to two patients in group II (5%) (p = 0.04). 85% of patients in group II were highly satisfied compared to 50 % in group I (p = 0.003). We reported a 5% complication rate in group I compared to 2.5% in group II (p = 0.6).

CONCLUSIONS

The present study found that the dorsal penile nerve block offers superior postoperative pain control and patient satisfaction compared to intrathecal fentanyl for patients undergoing inflatable penile prosthesis insertion.

Voice Assistants as Consultants for Male Patients with Sexual Dysfunction: A Reliable Option?

The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri to recognize and answer questions about male sexual health. Each VA was tested on a smart speaker: Alexa on Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen., Google Assistant on Google Home Mini, and Siri on Apple HomePod. A pool of patients' frequently asked questions regarding erectile dysfunction (ED), premature ejaculation (PE), Peyronie's disease (PD), male infertility, and other aspects of male sexual health were identified by authors. The recognition of question was evaluated ("yes" or "not"). For each recognized question, the response characteristics (domains) were rated on a scale from 0 to 10 (according to the quality). We chose the recognition rate of the questions as the primary outcome and the quality of the answers as the secondary outcome. Overall, the best VA in recognizing questions was Siri, with a total of 83.3% questions compared with 64.0% for Alexa (p = 0.024) and 74.0% for Google Assistant (p = 0.061). Siri was associated with a significantly higher recognition rate than Alexa for PE (80% vs. 40%; p = 0.002) and PD (66.7% vs. 33.3%; p = 0.010). The quality of the responses was classified as low in 57 out of 105 cases (54.3%), intermediate in 46 cases (43.8%), and high in only 2 cases (1.9%), highlighting an overall intermediate-low quality of the answers. Male infertility was the condition associated with the highest mean scores in "Targeted response to the problem" (7.32 ± 2.57), "Scientific correctness of the answer", (5.9 ± 2.76) "Completeness of the answer" (5.14 ± 2.56), and "Understandability of the response for a patient" (5.3 ± 2.51) domains. Siri was associated with significantly higher scores than Alexa (p < 0.05) in several domains of all conditions evaluated. The question recognition rate of VAs is quite high; however, the quality of the answers is still intermediate-low. Siri seems superior to Alexa in both question recognition and response quality. Male infertility appears to be the sexual dysfunction best addressed by VAs.