The other day I received an abstract of a new article about penile implants (or penile prostheses as they’re called) and I immediately thought this was something I wanted to share.  Treatments for ED such as pills and injections only work for about 70% of people. I find that a lot of men and women are interested in implants but they are too embarrassed to ask about them.  I know of only one forum, the prostatepointers.org PC and Intimacy group, where this subject is discussed freely.   However, I just came across a recommendation for a blog which deals with penile implants: penileimplant.blogspot.com.

The abstract I’m referring to is called “Inflatable Penile Prostheses for the Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction: An Update,” by Dr. B. Garber (3/5/08).  It “reviews and critiques the inflatable penile prostheses that are currently available in the USA and the EU for the treatment of ED”.  I wanted to get the full text of this article and was even willing to pay for it, but the price was — an unbelievable — $60 plus tax for a one-time view.  Here is the link if you want to look into this further.  http://www.future-drugs.com/doi/abs/10.1586/17434440.5.2.133.

In doing some more research on this subject I came across an article by the above author from 2005 which is an excellent primer on penile implants.  It reviews the basics and has lots of diagrams and pictures.  The link to that article is http://www.garber-online.com/pdf/PenileImplantReview.pdf.    According to this article, penile implants are the most invasive treatment for ED but also the one with the highest satisfaction rates.

It might give you a chuckle to know that when I first started writing this, I glanced at my google PC newsire and first thing I saw  was the following (at least something is going up):

NEW YORK (AP) _ Shares of penile implant and incontinence products maker American Medical Systems Holdings Inc. spiked Friday, after the company reported better-than-expected adjusted profit and revenue for the fourth quarter and forecast 2008 earnings above Wall Street estimates.