Effect of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on Erectile Function at Somdech Phra Pinklao Hospital

Abstract

            The purpose of this research is to study the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) on erectile function of Thai men. This is a prospective non-randomized therapeutic research (observational design) consisting of sixteen patients, treated for any indications by HBOT at 2.4 atmospheres absolute eighty-five minutes, five times per week at least twenty sessions at Somdech Phra Pinklao hospital. The instruments used in this study were a multiplace hyperbaric chamber and Thai version of the International index of erectile function 5 (IIEF-5) questionnaire. The validity and reliability of Thai version of the IIEF-5 were evaluated with weight kappa > 0.75 and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 0.92, respectively. Generalized estimating equation was used for repeated measurement of mean and SD of IIEF-5 score among pre-HBOT and every after ten sessions of HBOT with statistical significance of .05. Mean IIEF-5 score of pre-HBOT, post-HBOT 10, post-HBOT 20, and post-HBOT 30 were 10.4 (8.5), 12.0 (7.6), 12.4 (9.6), and 11.1 (8.9), respectively at p-value .498. To conclude, there was improvement in erectile function in patients receiving HBOT, but with statistical insignificance.