Over the years, doctors and surgeons struggled to find the one magic substance that can be taken orally or rubbed on to the penis without finding anything in the natural world that could improve on the placebo effect. For the record, even in modern clinical trials, the chemically inert placebos are reported effective by an average one-third of participants. The power of the mind to heal the body remains strong. There were even surgeons who found men desperate enough to go through experimental implant operations where various stiffening substances and objects were installed. Needless to say, none of these early attempts produced reliable results.
This left it to the pure scientists to have their shot. Their best effort came through the vacuum tube. The reasoning is absolutely correct. An erection is formed naturally when the penile artery dilates and the heart pumps an excessive amount of blood into the penis. So if the action of the heart is not strong enough to push blood through an artery that refuses to dilate fully, a vacuum must be used to draw the blood through. Remarkably, even though the device itself looks like a joke with its plunger to extract the air, it really does work. A few strokes of the plunger reduces the air pressure and blood comes into the penis. To counteract the withdrawal of the penis from the device simply deflating the erection, a band is placed around the penis to keep the excess of blood inside. It may not produce the hardest of erections, but with a little assistance, it’s usually possible to penetrate.
All this application of science became “lost in the past” when the new PDE5 inhibitor drugs came along. When most men can just take a pill, no one wants to even think about using a clumsy machine. It demolishes spontaneity. Except there are a small number of men who, for a variety of reasons, cannot take Levitra or the other drugs. Not everyone wants to go back to the injections which were reasonably successful. They do produce erections, but they can last quite a long time. So that left the vacuum pump until Dr Nick Ossei-Gerning came on to the scene. He’s pioneering a new operation to insert a stent into the penile artery. For those of you not up on the technology, a stent is a small tube inserted into a blood vessel, usually close to the heart, to relieve an obstruction. It supports the walls of the vessel and allows the blood to flow smoothly through the damaged section. So far, the results of the penile artery implants look good and this creative surgeon will formally present his findings at a conference this October.
So this brings new hope to the men who find themselves unable to take Levitra. Going back to the vacuum pump was never an attractive option so, if this relatively simply operation is proved a success, it will become a relative quick and inexpensive way of treating erectile dysfunction. While no surgical procedure is ever pleasant, this would appear relatively risk free and provide a long-lasting cure for the problem – obviously once inserted, the stent will generally increase the supply of blood into the penis and, when an erection is required, little effort will be required to pump in more.