Results of a small study on the effects of the use of drug Erythropoietin prior to radical prostatectomy to improve erectile function after surgery. No positive benefit shown and the study seems to confirm that a good surgeon who can spare the nerves (that's why it's called nerve-sparing surgery) is the best route to good post-surgery erectile function.
Abstract is reproduced below:
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Purpose:
Erectile dysfunction significantly impacts quality of life for men undergoing radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer. Erythropoietin is a promising neurotrophic factor for neurogenic erectile dysfunction based on preclinical and retrospective data.
Materials and Methods:
ERECT (NCT00737893) is a phase 2, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial (July 2017–December 2019) evaluating the impact of perioperative erythropoietin on recovery of erectile function and other patient-reported, health-related quality of life outcomes after bilateral nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy (3, 6, 9, and 12 months). Erythropoietin (20,000 units) or saline placebo was injected subcutaneously the day before, day of, and day after surgery for 3 total doses.
Results:
Of 63 patients assessed for eligibility, 56 patients were randomized. Arms (29 erythropoietin, 27 placebo) were well balanced (89.3% robotic, median age 55.5 years). International Index of Erectile Function-Erectile Function Domain (IIEF-EF) scores increased from median 12.5 at 3 months to 24.5 at 12 months. Median 2-week serum hemoglobin was higher for the erythropoietin arm compared to placebo (14.7 vs 13.6, p=0.02). There was no statistically significant difference in IIEF-EF scores at 6 months comparing erythropoietin to placebo (p=0.50) or at other time points (mixed model regression coefficient: −1.7, 95% CI −6.1–2.7, p=0.45). Excellent nerve-sparing rating (10/10) was associated with improved IIEF-EF recovery (+5.2, p=0.022). Other patient-reported, health-related quality of life domains as well as oncologic outcome and complications were similar between arms during followup.
Conclusions:
In the context of brief perioperative dosing, erythropoietin did not improve recovery of erectile function for men undergoing radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer compared to placebo. Further research to identify effective adjuncts to improve health-related quality of life for these men is needed.
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Study is here:
Effect of Erythropoietin on Erectile Function after Radical Prostatectomy: The ERECT Randomized Clinical Trial
Ever looked into NAD+ via the anti-aging research of David Sinclair? On the surface the NAD story looks to be a bit like anti-oxidants; i.e., very good for preventing cancer, but (by maybe indiscriminately boosting metabolism) questionable once you have it. Have any thoughts on it?
Always felt epogen was good only for anemia related to decreased erythropoietin productrion... now we know it will NOT make your good thing stand up post RP... not surprising...
Too early... my brother caught a nice perch... 12 inches.... but the walleye were not biting and it was a bit rainy... had fun camping though... Hope you had a good weekend....
As you know well, it's just being out there with a line in the water, esp. with your brother, that makes it all worthwhile. Welcome back to the "real" world. The heat is on - stay cool, Bro'.
K9 likes to take his Siestas in the shade this time of year. Paz - k9
It is warm here today... doing some work in the garden...getting ready to put out the lot.... stay cool.....siesta... that is a thought.... gotta put those on the summer schedule...
Sinclair's work looking into anti-aging has a strong focus on one of your favorite topics, sensecent cells. Here is an excerpt from something I wrote recently about his work:
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According to Sinclair, sirtuins (there are 7 of them, but Sirt1 is the one Sinclair's research is about) are the key players in the cellular repair and NAD+ is the activator. NAD decrease with age, thus the ability to create more NAD produces anti-aging effects in mice and yeast. (Novice first cut understanding; i.e., please do you own research.) His research also embraces the roles of exercise, homeostasis, AMPK (berberine & metformin), & mTOR in cellular health and aging.
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If you are interested, let me know, and I will send you some links.
Stay Well and enjoy that cool mountain air. It should be good for both you and Ms. Mary. Add in good daily dosage of vino and you'll both be as resilient as Patrick O'.
A Giant Congrats on the much anticipated move-in. If you weren't so far away and gas unavailable here locally, I would be glad to lend a hand. May the weather be perfect and the moving go smoothly.
My post was not specifically directed at you Nal. Just put it out there so anybody and everybody who is interested can make informed decisions. On the whole, I don’t see too many negatives with NO, but as you always say, we each need to decide for ourselves and find a good balance for our individual circumstances.
Thank you to you and Cujoe for this interesting discussion.
Your cautions are well-founded and, as noted in my reply directed to Nal, the jury is definitely still out on NAD+. Here is a year-ago post at FightAging.org that cautions that raising NAD+ levels may actually cause increased "aggressive" inflammation in senescent cells. From the post:
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The results here suggest that efficient senolytic treatments to selectively destroy senescent cells should proceed any of the current approaches to raising levels of NAD+ in older individuals - and it is an open question as to whether any of the existing available options are efficient enough to make NAD+ enhancement safe in the longer term. Those people self-experimenting with NAD+ precursor supplementation should consider keeping a close eye on markers of inflammation.
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Link to the article is here (Note that It has hyperlinks to many relevant research papers):
Boosting Levels of NAD+ May Make Senescent Cells More Aggressively Inflammatory - FightAging.org - May 6th, 2019
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