Dr. Ralf Herwig claims that he cures Venous Leak

[DP5689]

Seems to me that if this is actually a viable procedure lots of docs would be doing it. Maybe there's a message in the fact that none are.

That's what I'm afraid of.

[venousleak1990born]

http://www.pagepressjournals.org/index. ... a.2015.1.1

[dg_moore]

http://www.pagepressjournals.org/index.php/aiua/article/view/aiua.2015.1.1

I'd take this to a qualified expert and get his take on it.

[Echegollen]

Hi All,

I found your thread just doing what I do occasionally which is look for new treatments for a venous leak that I have had for over 20 years! I had venous ligation surgery back in 1997 which didn't really change a lot, therefore I have relied on PD5 drugs particularly in the last 4 years which the main have provided a good outcome, however I'm finding now I'm in my 40's that I go through short episodes where they don't work that well.

I live in the UK and I'm under one of the UK's most prominent uro's at the Leicester General and I know If I pushed it I could have an implant as after pills and injections that all they offer, however I'm not that old and realise that once its in there's no going back so based on your guys really interesting thread I contacted the International Andrology Institute in London by email to see if Sclerothreapy could be an option? Telling them all what I have put on this thread they came straight back and said yes it is an option for Venous leak but I would need to under go an ultrasound so they could assess how good a candidate I would be based on the amount of venous leak present. Feeling really encouraged I'm going to book an appointment within the next few weeks and if deemed suitable would pay the £2.5k for the operation which only takes 20mins under a local anaesthetic. My view is if the opp improves my current situation by 40/50% even if I still have to take pills then this would be a very good result. If I'm not deemed suitable then I think I would be pleased that I'd fully explored this option and would feel more comfortable about going for the implant surgery.

For note this is a relatively old surgery technique but has recently been improved upon by Dr Herwig and Dr F Kuehhas who out of interest works with both Dr Herwig in Germany and with International Andrology team in London.

Good luck and I will keep you all posted.

Gollam

Hi Gollam,

To tell you a little bit about myself, I am 31 years old and I have also been suffering from venous leak all my life. I feel you so much my friend. Just like you, I also regularly browse through the Internet looking for new treatments. One of the most frustrating thing I've experienced in this journey is when all those urologists I've seen would tell me that my erectile dysfunction problem was psychological, that I was putting too much stress on myself... What a bunch of bullocks. Thanks to Internet and people sharing their suffering online, I've finally been able to self diagnosed myself and discover that I was suffering from venous leak.

You mentioned that you have relied on PD5 drugs in the last 4 years and had good outcome. In my case, it never really worked. I would get an erection faster and stronger, but after about 1 minute, I would begin to lose my erection... Very frustrating! Last year, I've finally decided to take it one step further and I started to use injections (caverject). I've had much better results with injections than with pills. However, it is much less convenient and I find that since I've started using injections, I have less and less natural erections. Now you may wonder why I care about keeping those natural erections if I can't maintain it anyways. The reason is because I'm afraid that if one day a new treatment is found to cure my venous leak problem, my penis will have lost its ability to get any erections without the use of injections.

I assume if you had a venous ligation surgery in 1997, it's because you had enough venous leak present to justify such surgery. I don't know how you couldn't be a good candidate for the sclerotherapy surgery.

What I find a little odd though, is the fact that your uro at the Leicester General didn't mention anything about the sclerotherapy treatment. If your uro is really one of the UK's most prominent, how come he doesn't know anything about that miracle treatment? The fact that the International Andrology Institute is based in the UK and your uro didn't mention anything about is even more odd. Last week, I've seen the urologist I've been seeing for the last 2 years and I told him about that new sclerotherapy surgery. He told me that if that surgery really was that successfull, articles would have been published about it in the medical community. However, we did a research together and there was nothing to be found.

Now don't get me wrong, I hope with all my heart that sclerotherapy really works, It is my only hope in the moment. However, I try to remain objective to make sure I take good decisions.

Please keep us posted !!!

[dg_moore]

...Last week, I've seen the urologist I've been seeing for the last 2 years and I told him about that new sclerotherapy surgery. He told me that if that surgery really was that successfull, articles would have been published about it in the medical community. However, we did a research together and there was nothing to be found. ...

Exactly. I don't think there is a cabal of urologists somewhere who are keeping this miracle surgery secret so nobody can find out about it.

[ED2013]

Hi All,

I found your thread just doing what I do occasionally which is look for new treatments for a venous leak that I have had for over 20 years! I had venous ligation surgery back in 1997 which didn't really change a lot, therefore I have relied on PD5 drugs particularly in the last 4 years which the main have provided a good outcome, however I'm finding now I'm in my 40's that I go through short episodes where they don't work that well.

I live in the UK and I'm under one of the UK's most prominent uro's at the Leicester General and I know If I pushed it I could have an implant as after pills and injections that all they offer, however I'm not that old and realise that once its in there's no going back so based on your guys really interesting thread I contacted the International Andrology Institute in London by email to see if Sclerothreapy could be an option? Telling them all what I have put on this thread they came straight back and said yes it is an option for Venous leak but I would need to under go an ultrasound so they could assess how good a candidate I would be based on the amount of venous leak present. Feeling really encouraged I'm going to book an appointment within the next few weeks and if deemed suitable would pay the £2.5k for the operation which only takes 20mins under a local anaesthetic. My view is if the opp improves my current situation by 40/50% even if I still have to take pills then this would be a very good result. If I'm not deemed suitable then I think I would be pleased that I'd fully explored this option and would feel more comfortable about going for the implant surgery.

For note this is a relatively old surgery technique but has recently been improved upon by Dr Herwig and Dr F Kuehhas who out of interest works with both Dr Herwig in Germany and with International Andrology team in London.

Good luck and I will keep you all posted.

Gollam

Hi Gollam,

To tell you a little bit about myself, I am 31 years old and I have also been suffering from venous leak all my life. I feel you so much my friend. Just like you, I also regularly browse through the Internet looking for new treatments. One of the most frustrating thing I've experienced in this journey is when all those urologists I've seen would tell me that my erectile dysfunction problem was psychological, that I was putting too much stress on myself... What a bunch of bullocks. Thanks to Internet and people sharing their suffering online, I've finally been able to self diagnosed myself and discover that I was suffering from venous leak.

You mentioned that you have relied on PD5 drugs in the last 4 years and had good outcome. In my case, it never really worked. I would get an erection faster and stronger, but after about 1 minute, I would begin to lose my erection... Very frustrating! Last year, I've finally decided to take it one step further and I started to use injections (caverject). I've had much better results with injections than with pills. However, it is much less convenient and I find that since I've started using injections, I have less and less natural erections. Now you may wonder why I care about keeping those natural erections if I can't maintain it anyways. The reason is because I'm afraid that if one day a new treatment is found to cure my venous leak problem, my penis will have lost its ability to get any erections without the use of injections.

I assume if you had a venous ligation surgery in 1997, it's because you had enough venous leak present to justify such surgery. I don't know how you couldn't be a good candidate for the sclerotherapy surgery.

What I find a little odd though, is the fact that your uro at the Leicester General didn't mention anything about the sclerotherapy treatment. If your uro is really one of the UK's most prominent, how come he doesn't know anything about that miracle treatment? The fact that the International Andrology Institute is based in the UK and your uro didn't mention anything about is even more odd. Last week, I've seen the urologist I've been seeing for the last 2 years and I told him about that new sclerotherapy surgery. He told me that if that surgery really was that successfull, articles would have been published about it in the medical community. However, we did a research together and there was nothing to be found.

Now don't get me wrong, I hope with all my heart that sclerotherapy really works, It is my only hope in the moment. However, I try to remain objective to make sure I take good decisions.

Please keep us posted !!!

I would seriously look into getting implanted.

[gollam121]

Hi Echegollen and the other guys on this thread,

Firstly sorry for my absenteeism over the last few weeks, I was waiting for my appointment so thought I would hold off until I had something tangible to report back. So then I’ve had my first consultation with Dr Franklin Kuehhas at the International Andrology Institute in London last week and can say it was an interesting day out to say the least! Firstly we discussed my history with ED and he asked many questions in terms of my ligation surgery in 1997 whilst he got a better understanding of the drugs I use and their success rates.
After the initial chat had finished I was asked to undertake an ultrasound which involved a caverject injection to force an erection! Well it sort of worked but I was extremely nervous I did lose it a few times so he came back into the room on 4 occasions in order to complete the scan. After we had finished he told me that my inflow results were good, however and as expected the outflow was not great hence venous leak present (again no surprise).

We left this room and went back to his office where he drew a graphic of a penis, pretty standard stuff at first in terms of blood flow in, however and everyday being a school day and all that I learned that the veins that allow blood to drain out from the penis actually go into the prostate and this is the case for over 90% of the male population with less than 10% elsewhere into the abdomen which as I will explain is unlucky for the ones who have a venous leak because it’s impossible to track the vein and hence close it down, however this potential quirk of fate doesn't show up on a scan so will only present to the surgeon when you are opened up on the table and this appears to be the only risk with regards to an improved situation post opp.

So to summarise I was deemed a good candidate for Sclerothreapy and because I no longer have a deep dorsal vein after the '97 opp the leak has clearly presented elsewhere, so the next steps, success rates, risks and cost as follows:

Next steps: Operation performed only in Vienna where Dr Kuehhas works half the week. 2 day stay with cavonosagram performed on day 1, this takes about 30 mins and involves an induced erection with a tracer fluid pumped into to target the source of the venous leak. Day two is the operation which about 20-30 mins under a local anaesthetic. A 1.5 – 2cm cut is made with fluid injected into the offending vein to collapse the structure to close it off. The operation is minimally invasive and you can fly back the next day. You will then be given daily Cialis for 1 month which I suspect is to get the blood pumping around. No intercourse for 3 to 4 weeks.

Success rates: A total success is a sustainable erection good enough to penetrate and perform / complete intercourse without the aid of PD5 drugs. This is about 65%. Partial success is the above but lower dose PD5’s still required, this is about 15% so I’m assuming that 20% see no betterment post pop but I was assured by the doctor no one receive a worse outcome after surgery.

Cost & availability: £4,000 (UK) which includes flights and hotel in Vienna for one. This is organised by the clinic. Being a private medical service you could have this performed with 2-3 weeks if you have the money and free time.

Risks: You are the unlucky 10% whose veins don’t travel to the prostate so its cost you £4k and you are still back at square 1!
I hope this helps and picking on Echegollen question regarding to why other surgeons don’t offer this treatment? Well I can’t speak for other countries but here in the UK the NHS really puts little focus into research so they rely on trusted methods such as PD5’s, injections etc… and they remain reluctant to test so we all end up being just put into a generalised ED bracket rather looking at our individual needs.

As for me I believe this could be a good option, however because of the high cost of surgery and the fact Viagra still hits the spot 75% of the time I’m going to take the summer to consider things so won’t rush in yet, however if my erections start to wain I could go for this before year end.

That’s enough for now but if you have any questions please ask whilst I would be happy to talk to any of you on the phone if you wanted to? Just let me know and I would message my number.
In the meantime take care and remain strong.

Gollam.

[ED2013]

I got Implanted at 35 years of age after struggling with venous leak all my life. I was offered crural ligation surgery by a well known specialist. He seemed very enthusiastic to do the surgery. When pressed for answers in writing by email, he admitted that the surgery may not work and is not permanent. You could be back to square one very quickly. I believe that the psychological effects of Ed had already taken its toll on me, and would still give me problems. I opted for an implant, and couldn't be happier. The ability to have a rock hard erection on demand and for as long as I (or she) wants has been extremely liberating and satisfying to me. I went through it all, saw multiple uros who said it was all in my head. I used pills and injections too which didn't work well either. Bottom line is venous leak is rare in young, healthy individuals. Surgery to fix it is also no matter what they tell you indeed experimental. I urge you to proceed with caution. I spent many sleepless nights searching online for answers. Best of luck to you

[fandijoe]

SO HAS ANYONE HERE EVER HAD SUCESSFUL VENOUS LEAK SURGERY??

[venousleak1990born]

i am young and i had venous ligation surgery years ago.... it didnt work... i have ED