Objective: To evaluate the effects of daily medication of low-dose tadalafil on the improvement of endothelial function and erectile hardness in erectile dysfunction (ED) patients.
Methods: A total of 60 ED patients and 24 controls were treated with oral tadalafil at 5 mg/d for 6 - 8 weeks, and evaluated by international index of erectile function-5 (IIEF-5), erectile hardness grading scale (EHGS) and brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) test before and after the treatment. All the data obtained were analyzed by independent-sample and paired-sample t tests, respectively.
Results: The treatment and follow-up were accomplished in 51 of the ED cases. Compared with the controls, the ED patients showed significantly lower scores on IIEF-5 (23.6 +/- 1.0 vs 10.3 +/- 4.5, P < 0.01), EHGS (3.7 +/- 0.5 vs 2.0 +/- 0.6, P < 0.01) and FMD (14.1 +/- 2.1 vs 8.1 +/- 1, P < 0.01). Daily medication of tadalafil achieved an effectiveness rate of 96.1% (49/51) in the treatment of the ED patients, and significantly improved their scores on IIEF-5 (16.9 +/- 3.9 vs 10.6 +/- 4.5, P < 0.01), EHGS (2.6 +/- 0.7 vs 2.0 +/- 0.6, P < 0.01) and FMD (9.2 +/- 1.7 vs 8.1 +/- 0.9, P < 0.01), as compared with pretreatment.
Conclusion: Long-term daily medication of low-dose tadalafil can significantly improve endothelial function and erectile hardness of ED patients.