Laparoscopic treatment of pudendal nerve and artery entrapment improves erectile dysfunction in healthy young males.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is increasingly becoming more common in young healthy males and is attributed mainly to psychogenic causes in these patients. Recent studies have reported that ED could be secondary to pudendal nerve or artery entrapment.

This perspective assessed the efficacy of laparoscopic pudendal nerve and artery decompression in young patients suffering from refractory ED, associated to a pudendal nerve entrapment syndrome. After excluding patients with psychological ED and venous leakage, five young male patients with a history of both ED and pudendal nerve entrapment syndrome diagnosed based on the Nantes criteria were recruited. Pudendal nerve and artery release was performed using a laparoscopic transperitoneal approach. International Index for Erectile Function (IIEF-5) and erectile hardness score (EHS) improved significantly in all patients, 3 months after surgery. Pudendal nerve and artery entrapment could be therefore a reversible cause of ED in young healthy males, and its treatment by laparoscopic pudendal nerve and artery decompression seems to be safe and effective.

International journal of impotence research. 2020 May 04 [Epub ahead of print]

Fouad Aoun, Georges Mjaess, Karim Daher, Ghazi Sakr, Anthony Kallas Chemaly, Mohammad Salameh, Simone Albisinni, Fabienne Absil, Thierry Roumeguere, Renaud Bollens

Urology Department, Institut Jules Bordet, Brussels, Belgium. ., Hotel-Dieu de France, Université Saint Joseph, Beirut, Lebanon., Rizk Hospital (LAU Medical Center), Beirut, Lebanon., Mount Lebanon Hospital, Beirut, Lebanon., Urology Department, University Clinics of Brussels, Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium., Gynecology Department, EpiCURA Hospital, Ath, Belgium., Department of Urology, Université Nord de France, St Phillibert Hospital, GHICL, Lille, France.

Go Beyond the Abstract and Read a Commentary by the Authors