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A sugar sweet new treatment for erectile dysfunction after radical prostatectomy

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 31, pages 50–51 (2019)Cite this article

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Erectile dysfunction (ED) remains an important and difficult to treat condition for patients after radical prostatectomy (RP). Today only symptomatic treatments are available, such as intracavernous injection therapy and phosphodiesterase-5-inhibitors, which both focus on the end organ. The pathogenesis of ED after RP consists of injury to the erectile or cavernous nerves (CNs) and inadvertently occurs during surgical removal of the prostate [1]. Because of this reason, novel therapies focusing on nerve injury (instead of the end organ) are necessary as they would provide a causal instead of a symptomatic treatment.

Pioglitazone, is part of a class of thiazolidinediones (TZDs) and a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Besides its effect on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, others have attributed neuroregenerative and vasculoprotective action to pioglitazone [2]. In the current study, the authors performed a follow-up study by evaluating pioglitazone’s role in promoting neuroregeneration of the CNs, more specifically looking at the implication of the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) pathway [3].

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References

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  1. Laboratory for Experimental Urology, Department of Development and Regeneration, University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Emmanuel Weyne

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  1. Emmanuel Weyne
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Correspondence to Emmanuel Weyne.

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Weyne, E. A sugar sweet new treatment for erectile dysfunction after radical prostatectomy. Int J Impot Res 31, 50–51 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-018-0073-z

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