Does renal transplantation improve erectile dysfunction in hemodialysed patients? What is the role of associated factors?

OBJECTIVE

To assess the effect of successful renal transplantation on improvement of erectile function in hemodialysis (HD) patients and the relationship between the degree of patient response and other factors.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

From September 2002 to November 2005, erectile function of 64 patients on HD for at least 6 months was evaluated pretransplantation and 6 months posttransplantation by International Index of Erectile Function, version 5 (IIEF-5). Sixty four age-matched persons without renal impairment were enrolled as control group to compare erectile dysfunction (ED) prevalence with the HD group. We evaluated duration of HD, age, and site of arterial anastomosis. In an attempt to find predictors of improvement of ED, after kidney transplantation, we performed linear regression analysis with a backward method.

RESULTS

The prevalence of ED in HD patients was 87.5%. Although there were some differences in the prevalence of ED between patients older versus younger than 50 years, the difference was not statistically significant. There was no relationship between the duration of dialysis and the severity of ED in HD group. Compared to the pretransplant IIEF-5 score (13.59), there was significant improvement (19.16). In an attempt to find predictors of ED improvement, we used a linear regression analysis with backward method. Pretransplant IIEF-5 score, age at the time of transplant, and anastomosis to the common iliac artery showed significant associations with improvement, but the duration of dialysis and anastomosis to internal iliac or external iliac artery did not.

CONCLUSION

The incidence of ED among hemodialyzed patients is high. Kidney transplantation is the key treatment for this complaint. ED has a major negative impact on the quality of life and family relations. Its treatment is associated with improvement of psychogenic factors. ED is a sensitive topic and many patients will not spontaneously discuss it with their physician, so better to include potency evaluation in posttransplantation list evaluations.