Restoration of couple's intimacy and relationship vital to reestablishing erectile function

The new modes of pharmacologic therapy give health care practitioners an unprecedented opportunity to treat patients with erectile dysfunction (ED), an undiagnosed and underreported condition. Yet even with a portfolio of effective treatment modalities, such as phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors, nonpharmacologic interventions should be considered as means to support and augment the effects of these agents. Of equal value--and necessity--is the involvement of the man's partner in both the assessment and treatment processes. Because men see the primary care physician's office as a natural and expected place in which to address issues of sexual health, those healthcare professionals who are prepared to initiate discussion of ED can offer patients and their partners the possibility of effective and enduring treatment success and the restoration of a satisfying relationship.