Objective: To explore the relationship between cervical spondylosis and male erectile dysfunction (ED) and to evaluate the clinical characteristics of male cervical spondylosis patients with ED.
Methods: Nineteen cases of male cervical spondylosis patients under 55 years old, who experienced some problems of their erectile function after the onset of cervical spondylosis, were surgically treated between March 2008 and March 2009 at our hospital. Their clinical characteristics were reviewed and clinical data prospectively analyzed. Preoperative and postoperative international index of erectile function (IIEF-5) and JOA (Japanese Orthopedic Association) scores and the correlation of improvement rate of these two scores were analyzed statistically.
Results: The average age of this patient group was 48.8 years old. Twelve cases underwent anterior approach surgery while the other 7 cases posterior approach surgery. The mean follow-up period was 11.8 (5 - 18) months. All cases showed the clinical and radiological findings of spine cord compression. The preoperative and postoperative IIEF-5 scores were 12.1 ± 5.6 and 17.6 ± 5.5 respectively. There was obvious statistical difference between two scores (P = 0.002). Among all patients, the erectile function of 84.2% improved on the last follow-up. The mean improvement rate of erectile function was 39.8% while the mean improvement rate of JOA scores 59.3%. But there was no correlation between these two rates (P = 0.172). The improvement rate of erectile function showed no statistical difference between two surgical approaches (P = 0.934) either.
Conclusion: Cervical spinal cord compression may be related with male erectile dysfunction besides motor and sensory dysfunctions. Surgical decompression may help to improve the erectile function. However, there is no correlation between the improvement rate of IIEF-5 scores and that of JOA scores. Future studies of a larger sample size are needed to further elucidate the underlying mechanism.