title: Awareness and timing of pelvic floor muscle contraction, pelvic exercises and rehabilitation of pelvic floor in lifelong premature ejaculation: 5 years experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the cure rate of patients with premature ejaculation who underwent a treatment involving: 1) awareness of the pelvic floor muscles 2) learning the timing of execution and maintenance of contraction of the pelvic floor muscles during the sensation of the pre-orgasmic phase 3) pelvic floor rehabilitation (bio feed back, pelvic exercises and electrostimulation).
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited 78 patients with lifelong premature ejaculation who completed the training. The patients were informed of the role of the pelvic floor. They were taught to carry out the execution and maintenance of contraction of the pelvic floor muscles during the sensation of the pre-orgasmic phase to control the ejaculatory reflex. In order to improve the awareness, the tone and the endurance of the pelvic floor muscles, patients were treated with the rehabilitation of pelvic floor (RPF) consisting mainly in biofeedback, pelvic exercises and in some cases also in electro-stimulation (ES). The training was carried out for a period of about 2-6 months with an average of 2-5 visits per cycle.
  
  
  RESULTS
  54% of patients who completed the training were cured of premature ejaculation and learned over time to be able to postpone the ejaculation reflex. In a subgroup of 26 patients was also measured the IELT which on the average increased from &lt; 2 minutes to &gt;10 minutes. The best results occurred mainly in patients aged less than 35 where the cure rate was 65%. There were no side effects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, approximately half of patients with premature ejaculation were cured after applying the above treatment.This therapy, necessitates a fairly long period of time (2-6 months) and a great commitment on the part of the patient, nevertheless it can be a valid and effective treatment for patients with premature ejaculation. This treatment makes the patient independent in that he is not bound to specific times for taking medication. Furthermore there are no side effects and this therapy is particularly effective in young males.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, San Camillo Forlanini Hospital, Rome. lapera@libero.it.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: La Pera
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D017773:Pelvic Floor / Q000502:physiology*; D061686:Premature Ejaculation / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult