Rigid Penile Implant Technology is Medieval

[activesurveillance]

Coloplast has been in business since 1954 while AMS started in 1970. For decades we've witnessed only minor or insignificant improvements to the manual pump process. Meanwhile we struggle with crazy pump issues, e.g., 'can't find the notch', 'having trouble deflating', etc., etc. The lack of competition is one of the reasons electronics have not been introduced into this market. Coloplast & AMS will argue that the market is too small to justify R&D. But the market could grow in multiples with a technically up to date product and also be introduced to folks with tactile impairment due to MS, arthritis, wounded warrior issues, etc. Needing two hands to operate the pump is ludicrous when an electronic remote could do the job.

activesurveillance

[trucxrule]

Hello-

Yes yes yes - I said the same thing to myself. Why do we not have a key fob operated device now in 2014? Surely what's been used from the last 40 years largely unchanged could be enhanced and improved upon. As us baby boomers march on there will be a huge demand for this product. I'm currently using injections and abiding my time as I consider when to take the plunge to implant.
Trucxrule

[Neisseria]

Have you read the improvements in penile implant in the last decade?¡ The 3 pieces implants used to last like 3 years in the past. Now most of them reach 15 years without complications. The Titan now has an outside layer that absorbs antibiotics and the Ams has impregnated their implants with antibiotics reducing the infections rates to around 1% and also at reimplantations from 18% to less than 5%. The pumps also improved, there is much less autoinflation, better deflation and easier inflation. These are some of the improvements.

The implant industry is researching to incorporate electronic devices but it would have more complications, less life expectancy and would be much more expensive. Now penile implants are a great and viable option to "cure" ED, with really low complication rate, and a great life expectancy and more important great satisfaction rate.

[Olivero66]

In my opinion electronics is not that preferable. As an embedded software engineer I know the failure rate and how error-pron that might be. In car industry with ASIL B ECUs usally become replaced after 10 years. I prefer excellent mechanical functionality to electronics.
Much more important than some gadget is a good surgeon.

[jryancey44]

I am an electrical engineer I agree with my fellow software engineer. There is something in engineering we call the theory of complexity, the more complex something is the more likely it will fail. Mechanical works for me.




Jim

[activesurveillance]

Have you read the improvements in penile implant in the last decade?¡ The 3 pieces implants used to last like 3 years in the past. Now most of them reach 15 years without complications. The Titan now has an outside layer that absorbs antibiotics and the Ams has impregnated their implants with antibiotics reducing the infections rates to around 1% and also at reimplantations from 18% to less than 5%. The pumps also improved, there is much less autoinflation, better deflation and easier inflation. These are some of the improvements.

The implant industry is researching to incorporate electronic devices but it would have more complications, less life expectancy and would be much more expensive. Now penile implants are a great and viable option to "cure" ED, with really low complication rate, and a great life expectancy and more important great satisfaction rate.

Au contraire if your saying that 10 years ago 3 piece sets lasted only three years, nothing could be further from the truth! In 1993 we started investigating 3 piece sets and two urologists in the NY/NJ area stated we could expect a 10 - 15 year useful life. Regarding the drop in infections over this period please acknowledge the primary reason, i.e., the expertise of the high volume surgeons.

True, a electronic device might be more costly but this would be offset somewhat by the much increased demand for the product from people with a handicap.

[activesurveillance]

In my opinion electronics is not that preferable. As an embedded software engineer I know the failure rate and how error-pron that might be. In car industry with ASIL B ECUs usally become replaced after 10 years. I prefer excellent mechanical functionality to electronics.
Much more important than some gadget is a good surgeon.

The medical industry has been thriving on the insertion of organ stimulating electronic devises within the body for decades. For example, heart pacemakers and defibrillators have been effectively employed since the 1950's. Brain pacemakers to control pain in certain diseases such as Parkinson's have been around since the 1990's.

Regarding rigid penile implants we need a higher tech option than the manual system. This will benefit everyone but in particular, the disabled such as our wounded warriors.

[trucxrule]

Coloplast has been in business since 1954 while AMS started in 1970. For decades we've witnessed only minor or insignificant improvements to the manual pump process. Meanwhile we struggle with crazy pump issues, e.g., 'can't find the notch', 'having trouble deflating', etc., etc. The lack of competition is one of the reasons electronics have not been introduced into this market. Coloplast & AMS will argue that the market is too small to justify R&D. But the market could grow in multiples with a technically up to date product and also be introduced to folks with tactile impairment due to MS, arthritis, wounded warrior issues, etc. Needing two hands to operate the pump is ludicrous when an electronic remote could do the job.

activesurveillance

Much innovation of penile prosthetics is currently focused on modification of the three-piece design consisting of corporal cylinders, a pump and a reservoir. The ultimate future of prosthetics lies in simplification of the device to two self-contained corporal implants only. The battery, electronic controls and fluid transfer system would be self-contained within the corporal implant, obviating the need for connecting of components during surgery. Fewer parts would also likely equate to a lower infection rate as well as a lower mechanical failure rate. The design of these implants would rely on miniaturization of the fluid transfer system, battery and electronic controls. Our group is presently working on a device incorporating this type of technology.

Taken from an article in Medscape .

trucxrule

[trucxrule]

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/584818_4


Article on future of implants

trucx

[Olivero66]

Much innovation of penile prosthetics is currently focused on modification of the three-piece design consisting of corporal cylinders, a pump and a reservoir. The ultimate future of prosthetics lies in simplification of the device to two self-contained corporal implants only. The battery, electronic controls and fluid transfer system would be self-contained within the corporal implant, obviating the need for connecting of components during surgery. Fewer parts would also likely equate to a lower infection rate as well as a lower mechanical failure rate. The design of these implants would rely on miniaturization of the fluid transfer system, battery and electronic controls. Our group is presently working on a device incorporating this type of technology.
Taken from an article in Medscape .

This kind of devices used to exist already. But there is an intrinsic unsolvable problem. Where do you store the fluid amount when your implant is flaccid?? Can't store it in the corpora - if present in the corpora, the implant keeps on being rigid! So obviously it's inevitable to have some extra-corpora component being placed somewhere outside.
By contrary the issue regarding pump might be alleviated: The (large) size of current pump systems is due to the bellows. An electronic control of fluid transfer - as far as reliable - might reduce the size of this component significantly!!
But, as we stated already: Keep it as simple as possible: The more complex, the less reliable.