Pump It Up: In-Vitro Comparison Of Vacuum Erection Device Characteristics Used For Post Prostatectomy Penile Rehabilitation

Back to 77th Annual Meeting
Back to Program Outline

Background: Recent evidence has demonstrated the efficacy of penile rehabilitation after radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer. Protocols include the use of pharmacologic agents, vacuum erection devices (VED) or a combination of these therapies. While costly FDA approved VED’s are often prescribed, patients have reported success with commercially available VEDs from a local purveyor of erotic adult toys. We sought to compare the in vitro efficacy of an FDA approved VED (Osbon ErecAid, TIMM Medical Technologies, .00) (VED A) to a VED from local adult erotic store (Precision Pump California Exotics, .99) (VED B).
Methods: A novel apparatus was created for the experiments. A standard urodynamics rectal catheter with a pressure transducer was placed through a gel pad and an airtight seal formed. Two experiments were performed by placing each VED over the apparatus. The first study assessed each VED by measuring the maximum negative pressure generated and the number of pumps to achieve maximum negative pressure. The second experiment measured the rate at which the pressures were achieved by assessing the number of hand pumps to evacuate a 20cc syringe and inflate the urodynamics balloon. All experiments were run in triplicate by two different operators. A Student’s t-test was utilized to compare the 2 groups for any differences in the amount of measured pump pressure.
Results: There was no significant difference found between the maximum negative pressure generated by VED A and VED B (p < 0.12). The mean negative pressure generated by VED A was -68.7 mm Hg (range -68 - -69). The mean negative pressure of VED B was -69.7 mm Hg (range -69 - -71). VED B required one pump for each trial to achieve maximal negative pressure, where as VED A required two pumps for each trial (P < 0.001). VED B required on average 5.33 pumps in order to draw out 20 cc of normal saline into the catheter balloon while VED A required 17.7 pumps (P < 0.001).
Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that both VEDs appeared to achieve the same degree of maximum negative pressure. In both experiments VED A created significantly less suction than VED B on a per pump basis and required on average more than twice the amount of pumps in order to achieve similar results. The physiologic implications of the rate of suction application on achieving erection is unknown and will require further investigation. Preliminary in-vitro testing suggests that for those patients wishing to pursue penile rehabilitation after radical prostatectomy, commercially available VED’s from a local adult erotic store may provide a less expensive alternative.

Back to 77th Annual Meeting
Back to Program Outline