Background: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a worldwide health issue that has an influence on men's and their spouses' quality of life. The etiology of ED may be organic, psychogenic or mixed. The first line of therapy is oral phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors. Tadalafil is one of the PDE5 inhibitors. Diabetes-related erectile dysfunction is a type of endocrinal erectile dysfunction that impacts around 75% of patients with diabetes. Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is a powerful antioxidant that can improve diabetes and its problems. It is commonly referred to be a universal antioxidant.
Objective: To compare the efficiency of ALA when it combined with tadalafil versus Tadalafil alone in diabetic with ED.
Patients and methods: A total of 40 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and ED participated in the current study. Patients have been recruited from the Dermatology, Venereology, and Andrology Departments of the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Azhar University Hospitals' outpatient clinic from March 2020 to October 2021. A regimen of tadalafil 5mg daily dose for 6 weeks. ALA (Thioctic acid 300mg) daily was added to the previous regimen for additional 6 weeks.
Results: the results revealed significant improvement after adding ALA to tadalafil in comparison to the same studied group taking tadalafil only (P-value > 0.05). The evaluation was done utilizing the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5).
Conclusion: Treatment of diabetic patients with ED by tadalafil 5mg daily dose is an effective method. Adding ALA to tadalafil adds more significant improvement.