Erectile dysfunction occurs after radical prostatectomy from a combination of cavernous nerve damage, tissue fibrosis, inflammation, neuropraxia and corporal venous occlusive dysfunction during and after open and robotic surgery.1,2 As a result, at 5 years, up to 86% of men still have insufficient erections for intercourse 3 which is associated with significant quality of life issues.

This case study uses CARE guidelines 4 to report on a male in his early seventies who had undergone robotic assisted nerve sparing radical prostatectomy and had not recovered erectile function, despite penile rehabilitation.

Electroacupuncture was trialled to stimulate the erectile nerves. Two validated Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROM), the Erection Hardness Scale (EHS) 5 and the Simplified International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) 6 questionnaire evaluated erectile function. The score range is 1-4 and 5-25 respectively with higher scores indicating better erectile function. An open-ended comments box was optional to include information about the patients’ experience