Evaluation of the Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation of the Posterior Tibial Nerve in the Treatment of Premature Ejaculation: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Trial design A single blinded randomized controlled trial was used, and the ratio of allocation was 1:1.

Between 2022 and 2023, this study was conducted on (50) male patients attending the outpatient clinic of Andrology, Kasr Al Ainy Hospital, Cairo University to evaluate the efficacy and safety of transcutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation (TPTNS) to delay ejaculation in PE patients compared to sham transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS).

Patients The participants included in this study were married males with stable and continuous marital relationships, diagnosed with premature ejaculation based on the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM-International Society for Sexual Medicine) : (a) within the 1-2 minutes after penetration, the ejaculation always or almost always starts; (b)in all or almost all penetrations, the patient cannot delay the ejaculation; (c) PE generate negative consequences on the patients, such as discomfort, frustration, stress, and/or sexual intimacy avoidance, and the patient did not take the treatment for PE in the previous 14 days. Patients were excluded if they had erectile dysfunction (measured by the International Index of Erectile function-ILEF-5 questionnaire), inhibited male orgasm, reduced sexual desire, uncontrolled physical illness, active genitourinary tract infection (confirmed by two glasses of urine according to Modified Meares-Stamey technique), mental disorders affecting ejaculatory function such as anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia, history of alcohol or drug abuse. To exclude chronic prostatitis patients, the expressed prostatic secretions after prostatic massage were subjected to microscopic examination. Before conducting the study, informed consent was obtained from each patient.

The applied technique Over three weeks, the TPTNS group underwent ten sessions of electrical stimulation along the course of the posterior tibial nerve behind the medial malleoli using cup electrodes, with a width pulse of 250 microseconds, and a frequency of 20 Hz. The TENS group used a sham device with the same parameters, but the electrodes were placed behind the lateral malleoli with underpowered amplitudes.

Outcome measures Before and after treatment, the patients were asked to answer the Arabic Index of premature ejaculation questionnaire (AIPE) which evaluates seven items: time to ejaculation, hard erections for sufficient intercourse, control, sexual desire, satisfaction for the patient and partner, anxiety, or depression. Also, the intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) was calculated using the digital hand watch, as the patients were instructed to count the time between intromission and ejaculation, and to repeat this procedure in one to two coital occasions per week over three weeks after receiving either TPTNS or TENS. The ISSM defined an IELT threshold of 2 minutes as the cut-off point for PE. The treatment success was defined as a decrease in PE severity and an improvement in AIPE score.