Table 3. Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (PDE5Is) plus intracavernous injection (ICI).
| Author (year) | Study design | No. of patients | Follow-up | Evaluation questionnaire | Results | Evidence level | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDE5I | ICI | Combination | |||||||
| McMahon et al. (1999)16 | Case series | 93 | Every 4 weeks for 3.5 months | IIEF | Q3 score | 3.1 | 2.3 | 3.3 | IV |
| Q4 score | 2.4 | 1.9 | 3.1 | ||||||
| Comments: | |||||||||
| 1. All 93 patients were ICI failure. | |||||||||
| 2. 34% (32/93) patients achieved erections sufficient for intercourse with salvage sildenafil. | |||||||||
| 3. 48% (29/61) responded to combined therapy (sildenafil and ICI) with erections sufficient for intercourse. | |||||||||
| 4. Overall, 66% (61/93) ICI failures responded to salvage sildenafil monotherapy or combined therapy. | |||||||||
| 5. Side effects: 31% for ICI, 37% for salvage Sildenafil and 49% with combination therapy. | |||||||||
| Nandipati et al. (2006)17 | Case series | 22 | 6 months | IIEF | 10.5±1.8 | 19.4±2.4* | 22.1±0.3** | IV | |
| CDU | Comments: | ||||||||
| 1. 42.9% (9/21) require combination therapy after RP. | |||||||||
| 2. Early combination therapy with sildenafil allowed a lower dose of ICI. | |||||||||
Abbreviations: CDU, color doppler ultrasonography; IIEF, international index of erectile function; RP, radical prostatectomy.
*P<0.05, compared with PDE5I monotherapy. **P<0.05, compared with two monotherapies.