Historical approach to the surgical treatment of erectile dysfunction

Throughout human history, erectile dysfunction has represented one of the most omnipresent health problems. This has resulted in a search for solutions that, one after the other, have been shown to be fruitless. In this context, the emergence of possible surgical solutions at the start of the 20th century represented a revolution that, even then, would take several decades to demonstrate their effectiveness.

We performed a literature review that shows the process in the development of potential surgical treatments for hormonal restoration for erectile dysfunction, followed by the sudden emergence of vascular surgery, with new anastomosis techniques, and in the future, the development of penile prosthetic implants as alternative treatments.

The publication of results from erectile dysfunction surgery has been lagging for decades due to a lack of objectivity, given that sexual function is a topic restricted by patients' privacy. This situation has led to a reliance on results reported by various authors whose actual credibility could not be verified, with subsequent demonstrations showing that some of these results were not reproducible.

This article reviews some of the most important milestones in the progress of surgeries designed to treat erectile dysfunction. The achievements and apparent failures provide a reason for reflection on how we far we have come and how far we can go in the near future.