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Combination Therapy with Alpha-blocker and Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitor for Improving Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms and Erectile Dysfunction in Comparison with Monotherapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Panagiotis S. Kallidonis, Constantinos Adamou, Dimitrios A Kotsiris, Panteleimon Ntasiotis, Paolo Verze, Anastasios Athanasopoulos

European Urology Focus, 2019

33 citations

Abstract

CONTEXT

The effects of combination therapy consisted of an α-blocker and a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor (PDE5I) for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and erectile dysfunction (ED).

OBJECTIVE

To systematically investigate the efficacy and safety of combination therapy in comparison with monotherapy.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

The study complied with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement and the recommendations of the European Association of Urology Guidelines office. The study was registered in the PROSPERO database with ID CRD42018086619. Only comparative prospective studies, randomized or quasirandomized, with at least one control group with monotherapy were selected for the meta-analysis. The primary endpoint was the quality of life related to LUTS and ED, measured with the International Prostate System Score (IPSS), maximum flow rate (Qmax), postvoid residual (PVR), and International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF). Secondary endpoints included the adverse events rate. In the subgroup analysis of the influence of adding a PDE5I to the treatment of LUTS, the use of different PDE5Is was considered.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

After the screening of 6687 publications, 25 randomized controlled trials were considered eligible to be included in the meta-analysis. In the combination group, IPSS was lower and Qmax was higher than in the α-blocker group, with mean differences (MDs) of 1.41 (95% confidence interval [CI]:…

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