Taipei City Hospital

      The Yangming Branch of Taipei City Hospital has recently purchased the newest ultrasonic instruments and conducted penile ultrasound examinations on nearly 600 male patients with erectile dysfunction. Research results showed that up to 83% of the patients have penile vascular diseases, which reflects a concept that has become increasingly valued in the field of urology: male erectile dysfunction is truly an important alarm that cardiovascular diseases are about to occur.

      Shen Hengli, Attending Doctor in the Urology Department of the Yangming Branch, says that the causes of erectile dysfunction, besides age, also include: diabetes, smoking, second hand smoke and obesity, which coincide with the causes of cardiovascular diseases. When you find yourself suffering from erectile dysfunction, do you simply consider it bad luck and ignore it? That just won’t do.

      Urology studies have found that the chance of a person with erectile dysfunction developing heart diseases within 5 years is 45% higher than that of a person with normal erectile function, and the chance of the former developing coronary artery heart disease within 10 years is 80% higher than the latter doing so. Within 15 years, erectile dysfunction will become a risk factor of death via cardiovascular disease. It increases the risk of death as much as some widely known risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Shen Hengli says that such powerful evidence tells us that positively facing and actively treating erectile dysfunction not only can prevent diseases, but also help to promote health and prolong life.