Objectives: To evaluate our results with the Essed procedure for the correction of penile curvature, either congenital or due to Peyronie's disease, and compare it with the data from the literature, both for the Essed and the Nesbit procedure.
Methods: From 1991 to 1996 the Essed procedure was performed in 61 patients. 65.6% (n = 40) had congenital deviation and 34.4% (n = 21) suffered from secondary deviation due to Peyronie's disease. In all patients 2-6 nonabsorbable inverting interrupted sutures were placed bringing the knot between the plicated tunica.
Results: Patients' ages ranged from 15 to 65 (mean 31.3) years and the mean follow-up time was 39.8 (12-75) months. The preoperative penile deviation was between 20 and 90 degrees (mean 47.4 degrees ). Eighteen patients (29.5%) had a recurrent deviation following surgery. This failure rate was higher in the patient group with Peyronie's disease (42.9%) than in the group with congenital deformation (22.5%). Postoperatively, 2 patients (3.3%) with Peyronie's disease reported de novo erectile dysfunction. Twenty patients (32.8%) complained of persistent discomfort or pain at the area of the still palpable plication sutures, but this inhibited sexual intercourse only in 1 case. 45.9% stated penile shortening after surgery but only 21.3% felt bothered by this.
Conclusion: The results reported are in accordance with the literature showing a higher recurrence rate of the deviation with the Essed compared to the Nesbit procedure. For both methods the risk of recurrent disease is higher in patients with Peyronie's disease and with both techniques, an equally low incidence of erectile dysfunction is evident. However, since with the Essed technique one third of all patients complained of discomfort from the nonabsorbable sutures, the Nesbit procedure seems to be superior.