Injection therapy for erectile dysfunction
Article Abstract:
The use of alprostadil injected directly into the penis may revolutionize the treatment of impotence, but it is not without problems. The treatment of impotence has ranged from penile prostheses to vacuum erection devices to the injection of drugs that affect blood flow directly into the penis. These drugs mimic the natural process in which smooth muscle in the penis relaxes, allowing the penis to fill with blood. Alprostadil is a synthetic prostaglandin E that was recently approved by the FDA under the trade name Caverject. It is supplied as a powder that is mixed with water and can be injected in the privacy of home. A 1996 study evaluated Caverject in 577 men who were impotent. The drug was very effective, allowing 87% of the men who remained in the study to have satisfactory sexual intercourse. However, half of the men experienced penile pain and 31% dropped out of the study. Some urologists use a mixture of drugs to minimize side effects.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1996
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Diabetes, insulin secretion, and the pancreatic beta-cell mitochondrion
Article Abstract:
A protein in mitochondria called uncoupling protein 2 may be the link between obesity and type 2 diabetes. Increased amounts of this protein can reduce insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells. And this increase in uncoupling protein 2 may be caused by increased amounts of fatty acids that occurs in obesity.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 2001
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Creative educational strategies for health promotion. Health promotion and schizophrenia: the year 2000 and beyond
- Abstracts: Sexual behavior in Japanese quail as a test end point for endocrine disruption: effects of in ovo exposure to ethinylestradiol and diethylstilbestrol
- Abstracts: Looking back on the millennium in medicine. Looking at the patient: approaching the problem of COPD. Women physicians in academic medicine: new insights from cohort studies
- Abstracts: Responding to mass psychogenic illness. Faster...but fast enough? Responding to the epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome
- Abstracts: Safety in the round. Health and safety professionals' job prospects. Oiling the wheels of safety