Use of a vacuum tumescence device in the management of impotence

This study evaluated the use of a vacuum tumescence device in the treatment of impotence in older men. Twenty couples with sexual dysfunction due to erectile impotence and who were interested in restoration of sexual function were treated by providing them with both a vacuum tumescence device to engorge the penis and an obstructing band to impede venous return. Nineteen patients established firm to hard erections lasting an average of 16 minutes and were able to have satisfactory coitus with vaginal ejaculation an average of three times per month. The penile-brachial pressure index, supine and after exercise (a measure of the adequacy of penile arterial flow), exhibited a significant increase following six month's use of the vacuum tumescence device. The only significant complications were mild, self-limited hematomas on three occasions of use. Thus in this limited series the vacuum tumescence device provided a well-accepted, relatively inexpensive therapeutic approach to impotence.