Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common condition with a significant impact on the quality of life. Regenerative medicine maladies are intended to repair or replace damaged tissues and organs through different therapeutic mechanisms. Our aim was to study the effect of intra‐corporeal injection (ICI) of platelet‐rich plasma (PRP) in ED patients. Thirty‐four patients’ erectile function was evaluated by filling up an abridged form of the international index of erectile function (IIEF‐5) before and after PRP therapy. ICI of PRP was done once per week for 2 months. All patients were prescribed PDE5Is for one month after PRP therapy. Penile haemodynamics was assessed using 20 µg of PGE1 before and 3 months after initiating PRP therapy. Interestingly, our study had shown that there was a statistically significant difference in the IIEF‐5 score after ICI of PRP (−5.5, ±5.2, p=<0.001). Furthermore, in multiple logistic regression model for PRP responsiveness, smoking and IIEF score before PRP were the only significant independent variables (p = .040, p = .023 respectively). PRP injection for ED patients may be a promising modality as well as baseline IIEF‐5, and smoking status can be used as predictors for a satisfactory response to PRP in such patients.

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of ICI of platelet‐rich plasma (PRP) in addition to daily oral tadalafil intake in diabetic erectile dysfunction (ED) patients non‐responding to PDE5 inhibitors. Overall, 48 patients complaining of ED non‐responding to on‐demand PDE5 inhibitors were allocated into 2 equal groups, diabetics and non‐diabetics that were given a daily dose of 5 mg tadalafil plus vardenafil 20 mg on demand during the study besides being subjected to 3 doses of ICI of PRP, 4 weeks apart. Responses to on‐demand PDE5 inhibitors, International index of erectile function‐5 (IIEF‐5) score, erection hardness scores (EHS) and pharmaco‐dynamic duplex studies were assessed. After PRP injections, 33% and 50% of cases were satisfied with on‐demand PDE5 inhibitors, respectively, whereas 41% and 66% of them showed improved EHS response. Compared with baseline scores, the mean IIEF‐5 scores were significantly improved after PRP therapy in the diabetic ED group (12.1 vs. 8.04, p = 0.003) as well as in the non‐diabetic ED group (14.8 vs. 10.2, p = 0.001) linked to pharmaco‐penile duplex readings. Both good and fair diabetic control exhibited significant responses to ICI therapy of PRP compared with bad controlled cases. The significant improvement included; the IIEF‐5 score increase (86.7%, 126% vs. 16.1%), improved EHS as well as penile duplex readings. Baseline HbA1C demonstrated a significant negative correlation with IIEF‐5 score before (p = 0.019) and after PRP therapy (p = 0.002) respectively. It could be concluded that ICI of PRP could be an effective therapy for treating ED patients non‐responding to on‐demand oral PDE5 treatment.

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INTRODUCTION:Global Surgery is a field with growing interest among medical students, trainees and early career physician researchers. Access to research education is limited in all settings for early career researchers and more so in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). The International Student Surgical Network (InciSioN) Research Capacity Building (IReCaB) program, aimed to enhance the skills and confidence of participants in order to improve their knowledge of research methodology and to empower early career researchers. METHODS:After an open call to members of InciSioN to enroll, participant's knowledge of research methods and process was evaluated through a test to assign mentor and mentee roles, with mentors being those who scored >20/25. Mentors then delivered a series of four webinars to help disseminate research methodology to mentees. Mentees were then tested on their knowledge of research and their satisfaction was evaluated.RESULTS: Fifty-two participants, mostly from LMICs (n ¼ 23/ 52, 44.2%) were enrolled, and 36 completed the program. There was significant improvement in the proportion of questions answered correctly on the post program test (R¼0.755, p<0.001). Post-IReCaB test scores were greater than pre-IReCaB scores (p<0.001). The difference in confidence after the course was also significant (p<0.001).CONCLUSION: This study showed improvements in participants' understanding of theoretical components of scientific research. We offer a model for research capacity building which can be implemented, modelled, and further refined by similar organizations with academic research goals