Title
Author
DOI
Article Type
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of psychogenic erectile dysfunction: study protocol for a randomized control trial
1Department of Andrology, Xiyuan Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, 100091 Beijing, China
DOI: 10.22514/jomh.2023.055 Vol.19,Issue 7,July 2023 pp.31-38
Submitted: 15 November 2022 Accepted: 31 March 2023
Published: 30 July 2023
*Corresponding Author(s): Jiwei Zhang E-mail: zhangjiweixyyy@163.com
Acupuncture is widely used in China for various conditions. Recently, due to the limitations of conventional treatment, many patients with psychogenic erectile dysfunction (ED) tend to choose acupuncture therapy, which is more commonly applied in countries such as China. The present clinical trial protocol aimed to initially verify the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of psychogenic ED. Our study is a prospective, randomized control trial (RCT). The protocol for this RCT is based on the standard protocol items: recommendations for interventional trials (SPIRIT) 2013 statement. After the participants who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria sign an informed consent form, the investigator will schedule them for the trial. Patients will be randomly divided into two groups (acupuncture and sham acupuncture). Both groups will receive 18 sessions of interventions for 6 continuous weeks and will be followed up for 10 weeks. At five time points (0, 2, 4, 6 and 10 weeks), We will measure the primary and secondary outcomes. Emerging evidence support acupuncture therapy for improving male sexual function and its application in andrology. However, its efficacy on patients diagnosed with psychogenic ED has not been extensively studied. With our study, we anticipate to fill the knowledge gap in acupuncture as treatment for psychogenic ED.
Psychogenic; Erectile dysfunction; Acupuncture therapy; Sexual satisfaction; Acupoint
Hao Wang,Bin Yan,Ming Zhao,Jun Guo,Jiwei Zhang. Efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of psychogenic erectile dysfunction: study protocol for a randomized control trial. Journal of Men's Health. 2023. 19(7);31-38.
[1] Salonia A, Bettocchi C, Boeri L, Capogrosso P, Carvalho J, Cilesiz NC, et al. European association of urology guidelines on sexual and reproductive health-2021 update: male sexual dysfunction. European Urology. 2021; 80: 333–357.
[2] Capogrosso P, Colicchia M, Ventimiglia E, Castagna G, Clementi MC, Suardi N, et al. One patient out of four with newly diagnosed erectile dysfunction is a young man—worrisome picture from the everyday clinical practice. The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 2013; 10: 1833–1841.
[3] Feldman HA, Goldstein I, Hatzichristou DG, Krane RJ, McKinlay JB. Impotence and its medical and psychosocial correlates: results of the Massachusetts male aging study. The Journal of Urology. 1994; 151: 54–61.
[4] Wilcox SL, Redmond S, Davis TL. Genital image, sexual anxiety, and erectile dysfunction among young male military personnel. The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 2015; 12: 1389–1397.
[5] Chen L, Shi G, Huang D, Li Y, Ma C, Shi M, et al. Male sexual dysfunction: a review of literature on its pathological mechanisms, potential risk factors, and herbal drug intervention. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2019; 112: 108585.
[6] Hatzichristou DG, Apostolidis A, Tzortzis V, Ioannides E, Yannakoyorgos K, Kalinderis A. Sildenafil versus intracavernous injection therapy: efficacy and preference in patients on intracavernous injection for more than 1 year. The Journal of Urology. 2000; 164: 1197–1200.
[7] Rosen RC. PSYCHOGENIC ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION: classification and management. Urologic Clinics of North America. 2001; 28: 269–278.
[8] Mobley DF, Khera M, Baum N. Recent advances in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2017; 93: 679–685.
[9] Sun Y, Liu Y, Liu B, Zhou K, Yue Z, Zhang W, et al. Efficacy of acupuncture for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome: a randomized trial. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2021; 174: 1357–1366.
[10] Wang H, Zhao M, Zhang J, Yan B, Liu S, Zhao F, et al. The efficacy of acupuncture on patients with erectile dysfunction: a review. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2022; 2022: 1–10.
[11] Kaptchuk TJ. Acupuncture: theory, efficacy, and practice. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2002; 136: 374–383.
[12] The Andrology Branch of the Chinese Society of Traditional Chinese Medicine Information. Guidelines for the multidisciplinary treatment of erectile dysfunction with Chinese and Western medicine. Chinese Journal of Andrology. 2022; 36: 3–9.
[13] Aydin S, Ercan M, Caşkurlu T, Taşçi AI, Karaman I, Odabaş O, et al. Acupuncture and hypnotic suggestions in the treatment of non-organic male sexual dysfunction. Scandinavian Journal of Urology and Nephrology. 1997; 31: 271–274.
[14] Lehmann H. Acupuncture in ancient China: how important was it really?Journal of Integrative Medicine. 2013; 11: 45–53.
[15] Yin X, Gou M, Xu J, Dong B, Yin P, Masquelin F, et al. Efficacy and safety of acupuncture treatment on primary insomnia: a randomized controlled trial. Sleep Medicine. 2017; 37: 193–200.
[16] Qu S, Huang Y, Zhang Z, Chen J, Lin R, Wang C, et al. A 6-week randomized controlled trial with 4-week follow-up of acupuncture combined with paroxetine in patients with major depressive disorder. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2013; 47: 726–732.
[17] Chan AW, Tetzlaff JM, Gøtzsche PC, Altman DG, Mann H, Berlin JA, et al. SPIRIT 2013 explanation and elaboration: guidance for protocols of clinical trials. BMJ. 2013; 346: e7586.
[18] Yaman LS, Kiliç S, Sarica K, Bayar M, Saygin B. The place of acupuncture in the management of psychogenic impotence. European Urology. 1994; 26: 52–55.
[19] Engelhardt PF, Daha LK, Zils T, Simak R, König K, Pflüger H. Acupuncture in the treatment of psychogenic erectile dysfunction: first results of a prospective randomized placebo-controlled study. International Journal of Impotence Research. 2003; 15: 343–346.
[20] Lim S. WHO standard acupuncture point locations. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2010; 7: 167–168.
[21] Kassouf W, Carrier S. A comparison of the international index of erectile function and erectile dysfunction studies. BJU International. 2003; 91: 667–669.
[22] ZUNG WWK. A self-rating depression scale. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1965; 12: 63–70.
[23] Zung WWK. A rating instrument for anxiety disorders. Psychosomatics. 1971; 12: 371–379.
[24] Parisot J, Yiou R, Salomon L, de la Taille A, Lingombet O, Audureau E. Erection hardness score for the evaluation of erectile dysfunction: further psychometric assessment in patients treated by intracavernous prostaglandins injections after radical prostatectomy. The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 2014; 11: 2109–2118.
[25] Wang H, Yuan J, Hu X, Tao K, Liu J, Hu D. The effectiveness and safety of avanafil for erectile dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Current Medical Research and Opinion. 2014; 30: 1565–1571.
[26] Burnett AL, Nehra A, Breau RH, Culkin DJ, Faraday MM, Hakim LS, et al. Erectile dysfunction: AUA guideline. Journal of Urology. 2018; 200: 633–641.
[27] Lai BY, Cao HJ, Yang GY, Jia LY, Grant S, Fei YT, et al. Acupuncture for treatment of erectile dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The World Journal of Men’s Health. 2019; 37: 322–338.
[28] Kho HG, Sweep CG, Chen X, Rabsztyn PR, Meuleman EJ. The use of acupuncture in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. International Journal of Impotence Research. 1999; 11: 41–46.
[29] Xu J, Chen Y, Gu L, Liu X, Yang J, Li M, et al. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity and its relationship to the autonomic nervous system in patients with psychogenic erectile dysfunction. Frontiers in Endocrinology. 2023; 14: 1103621.
[30] Zhang X, Guan M, Chen X, Zhang P, Wu J, Zhang X, et al. Identifying neuroimaging biomarkers for psychogenic erectile dysfunction by fusing multi‐level brain information: a resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Andrology. 2022; 10: 1398–1410.
[31] Lidawi G, Asali M, Majdoub M, Rub R. Short-term intracavernous self-injection treatment of psychogenic erectile dysfunction secondary to sexual performance anxiety in unconsummated marriages. International Journal of Impotence Research. 2022; 34: 407–410.
[32] Li G, Lan H, Liang J, Zhang C, Huang C. Efficacy of tadalafil deescalation in the treatment of psychogenic erectile dysfunction. Urologia Internationalis. 2017; 98: 205–209.
[33] Flaherty KR, Demirjian CC, Nelson CJ. The psychological reasons for limiting implant surgery for men with erectile dysfunction. The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 2022; 19: 1499–1501.
[34] Maestre-Lorén F, Castillo-Garayoa JA, López-i-Martín X, Sarquella-Geli J, Andrés A, Cifre I. Psychological distress in erectile dysfunction: the moderating role of attachment. Sexual Medicine. 2021; 9: 100436.
[35] Ciaccio V, Di Giacomo D. Psychological factors related to impotence as a sexual dysfunction in young men: a literature scan for noteworthy research frameworks. Clinics and Practice. 2022; 12: 501–512.
[36] Yu C, Hequn C, Longfei L, Minfeng C, Zhi C, Feng Z, et al. Sexual function after partial penectomy: a prospectively study from China. Scientific Reports. 2016; 6: 21862.
[37] Zhang Y, Zhang X, Wang Q, Yuan Y, Yang J, Zhang X, et al. Psychological burden, sexual satisfaction and erectile function in men whose partners experience recurrent pregnancy loss in China: a cross-sectional study. Reproductive Health. 2016; 13: 73.
[38] Bilal A, Abbasi NUH. Randomized placebo controlled trial of sildenafil citrate, cognitive behavior sex therapy and integrated treatment in men diagnosed with non organic erectile dysfunction. Sexual Medicine. 2022; 10: 100464.
[39] Schiller J, Niederer D, Kellner T, Eckhardt I, Egen C, Zheng W, et al. Effects of acupuncture and medical training therapy on depression, anxiety, and quality of life in patients with frequent tension-type headache: a randomized controlled study. Cephalalgia. 2023; 43: 03331024221132800.
[40] Liu C, Zhao Y, Qin S, Wang X, Jiang Y, Wu W. Randomized controlled trial of acupuncture for anxiety and depression in patients with chronic insomnia. Annals of Translational Medicine. 2021; 9: 1426.
[41] Kim TH, Lee MS, Lee H. Sham acupuncture is not just a placebo. Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies. 2022; 15: 333–335.
Science Citation Index Expanded (SciSearch) Created as SCI in 1964, Science Citation Index Expanded now indexes over 9,200 of the world’s most impactful journals across 178 scientific disciplines. More than 53 million records and 1.18 billion cited references date back from 1900 to present.
Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition aims to evaluate a journal’s value from multiple perspectives including the journal impact factor, descriptive data about a journal’s open access content as well as contributing authors, and provide readers a transparent and publisher-neutral data & statistics information about the journal.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) DOAJ is a unique and extensive index of diverse open access journals from around the world, driven by a growing community, committed to ensuring quality content is freely available online for everyone.
SCImago The SCImago Journal & Country Rank is a publicly available portal that includes the journals and country scientific indicators developed from the information contained in the Scopus® database (Elsevier B.V.)
Publication Forum - JUFO (Federation of Finnish Learned Societies) Publication Forum is a classification of publication channels created by the Finnish scientific community to support the quality assessment of academic research.
Scopus: CiteScore 0.9 (2023) Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 Inactive titles) from approximately 11,678 publishers, of which 34,346 are peer-reviewed journals in top-level subject fields: life sciences, social sciences, physical sciences and health sciences.
Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers Search for publication channels (journals, series and publishers) in the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers to see if they are considered as scientific. (https://kanalregister.hkdir.no/publiseringskanaler/Forside).
Top