Laser Therapy for Peyronie's Disease: A Randomized Control Double-Blind Pilot Study

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Andrology
• Regenerative Medicine

Background:

• Peyronie's disease (PD) management presents a significant clinical challenge with no universally accepted gold standard treatment.
• Intralesional therapies, including verapamil, are explored for PD, but their efficacy and optimal combination strategies require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of intralesional verapamil compared to a combination of intralesional verapamil and low-intensity laser (LIL) therapy for Peyronie's disease.
• To assess the impact of this combined treatment on pain, plaque size, penile curvature, and erectile function.

Main Methods:

• A randomized study involving 38 men with Peyronie's disease over 6 weeks.
• Group 1 received intralesional verapamil (5 mg) with sham laser; Group 2 received intralesional verapamil (5 mg) with active low-intensity laser therapy (BTL-6000 HIGH-INTENSITY LASER 12 W).
• Outcomes were measured using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain, penile ultrasonography for plaque size, photographic assessment of curvature, and the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) for erectile function, with follow-up at 3 and 9 months.

Main Results:

• Both treatment arms showed significant decreases in study parameters post-treatment.
• The combination therapy demonstrated statistically significant improvements in pain reduction (p = .035) and penile curvature (p=.032) at the 3-month mark.
• These short-term benefits were not maintained at the 9-month follow-up assessment.

Conclusions:

• Low-intensity laser therapy is a safe treatment option for select patients with Peyronie's disease.
• The combination of intralesional verapamil and low-intensity laser therapy offers moderate short-term efficacy for managing PD symptoms.
• Further research is needed to explore long-term treatment strategies for Peyronie's disease.