[Vacuum therapy].

In the therapy of vasculogenic impotence, the Vacuum Device has been proposed up to now as an "external" prosthesis device with the aim of obtaining a penile erection of sufficient rigidity for penetration, in patients afflicted by vascular or neurological disorders. In the eighties, the experience gained with the use of Intra Cavernous Injections (C.I.D.) (using papaverine, phentolamine and prostaglandin), demonstrated not to be an exclusively palliative therapy ("pharmacological prosthesis"), but to represent as well a sort of "vasoactive exercise" of the erectile tissue. In the nineties, many wondered what could be a valid alternative to the C.I.D. Taking this into consideration, we modified the method of application of Vacuum Therapy. The device was used once a day without the constrictive band applied to the penis root, in order to generate a passive action on the erectile tissue, a sort of "stretching" for the smooth muscle fibers. From January 1990 to December 1991, we treated 78 pts. afflicted by erectile failure. The patients were divided into 3 groups (26 each) of distinct therapy: the first was treated weekly with only endocavernous papaverine administration (20 mg.), the second underwent daily Vacuum Therapy exclusively (10'-15') and the third received a combined therapy: Vacuum Device, daily and C.I.D. with Papaverine (20 mg.) once a week. The results of this treatment are as follows: the patients who underwent Vacuum Therapy daily (2nd and 3rd groups) showed, at the end of the treatment (6 months), a significant improvement in spontaneous erectile ability (14 Pts.-53.8% in the 2nd group; 17 Pts-65.3% in the 3rd group).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)