Drug injection trauma can lead to Peyronie’s disease
Peyronie’s disease treatment using drug injection into the delicate tunica albuginea of the penis is a medical therapy that is fast loosing favor. One of the reasons is the lack of good results, the other is that injections often cause or aggravate PD.
This blog post about Peyronie’s disease treatment using direct drug injections (Verapamil, cortisone, etc.) should hit home for a large number of you. Many men have undergone painful drug injections into the penis because their medical doctor thought it was worth the effort, and only found themselves worse for their effort.
First I will simply copy an article, “Extracorporeal shock-wave therapy in the treatment of Peyronie’s disease.” This research discussion is essentially about Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy, ESWT (or ESWL as they call it here). This article comes from www.pubmed.gov under the reference number PMID: 15114750 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE].
What is important to note in our particular discussion is the area I have highlighted for emphasis. You will note from an earlier post about ESWT in Peyronie’s Disease Treatment Forum blog, this form of therapy has been fairly well abandoned by a large percent of doctors who used it for many years since these injections seem to cause more problems than it helps. The reason this information about ESWT (or ESWL) is included in this article about penile injections is that these Russian physicians make a very interesting comment while discussing ESWT that underscores the damage created by injections (of any kind) into the tunica albuginea.
[Article in Russian]Neĭmark AI, Astakhov IuI, Sidor MV.
The authors analyse the results of treatment of 28 patients with Peyronie’s disease using extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL) performed on Dornier U15 lithotriptor. A total of 2-6 sessions were made, maximal number–12. The efficacy was controlled by clinical indices and ultrasonic investigation (Doppler mapping of the blood flow). ESWL proved to be efficient in the treatment of Peyronie’s disease (PD), primarily, in patients with early disease before appearance of severe fibroplastic alterations. Less plaque vascularization by energetic Doppler mapping due to ESWL is an important diagnostic criterion of PD treatment efficacy. Conservative treatment is not indicated in marked deformities and plaque calcification, erectile dysfunction. Moreover, any injection into the tunica albuginea, especially complicated by hematomas (deep tissue bruising) may be a damaging factor which triggers fibrous inflammation. Such patients should be treated surgically. If the patient is interested in immediate results or is not interested in continuation of sexual life, the treatment is ineffective. Thus, ESWL is an effective, safe method of PD treatment but requires further study and accumulation of clinical experience.
It seems that the problems penile injections can cause is not that necessarily about the drug that is injected into the tunica, but the drug injection with a needle itself that is used to deliver the drug. An injection to deliver any drug, or sterile water, can cause injury to this delicate membrane. This sets off an inflammatory response that can result in significant Peyronie’s disease plaque or scar tissue formation for men who as so predisposed. Doing this once can be risky. Doing this up to a dozen times over a few months, as is often the recommended course of therapy, just multiples the opportunity for injury to mount on top of injury.
This Russian research team offers the opinion that the effects of such injection into the penile shaft causes such significant Peyronie’s plaque development, that surgery is the best treatment option for the damage that it can cause. Obviously, I do not agree with that, since surgery can also cause more scar development. Their conclusion is that they find men who receive these injections often eventually are rewarded with a disturbed and discontinued sexual life.
This idea is brought to your attention to demonstrate there are many in the medical community who agree with the same position that I have taken for many years now. These doctors and I contend it is inherently risky, in fact, dangerous, to stick needles repeatedly into the penis for Peyronie’s disease treatment. Their logic concludes that any treatment that can start or aggravate the very problem it is attempting to treat, is not much of a treatment.
It is unfortunate that the medical community turns a blind eye to the direct observation of poor results, serious irritation of the tunica, and the solid logic that reputes injections as a form of Peyronie’s disease treatment. Those who continue to inject their Peyronie’s disease patients, and bring these men farther down the road toward greater plaque development, must be desperate to look useful or just ignorant of how Peyronie’s disease often develops. It is so common for medical doctors to think only in terms of medicine and surgery, notwithstanding the tragedy that can often result from their limited thinking.
The PDI concept of using non-invasive methods to increase the healing response of the body is a safer and more trustworthy Peyronie’s disease treatment than some of the aggressive medial schemes being promoted today.