Peyronie's Heat Treatment
Peyronie's heat treatment is when excessive heat is used to treat the Peyronie's plaque, i.e. hyperthermia Peyronie's treatment.
What Is Hyperthermia?
Hyperthermia is when the body's temperature reaches higher than normal levels, e.g. due to prolonged exposure to heat or excessive physical activity.
Hyperthermia can be life threatening, i.e. if the body temperatures reaches above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Hyperthermia has been used to treat plaque in orthopaedics (musculoskeletal system) and in oncology (cancer treatment). Heat is then applied on regular basis to specific part of the body for short periods.
Hyperthermia Peyronie's Treatment
Hyperthermia Peyronie's treatment is when excessive heat (usually 39-40 degrees Celsius) is applied on regular interval to the penis for short periods.
Does Peyronie's Heat Treatment Work?
There are some small studies that have showed positive results on using heat therapy to treat men with Peyronie's disease.
This Peyronie's Heat Therapy Study 
from 2005 included 60 Peyronie's patients, aged between 36-76 years. Half of them had Verapamil treatment (one infiltration once a week for 3 months), while the other half underwent local hyperthermia therapy.
The hyperthermia Peyronie's treatment included 30 minutes treatment sessions, twice a week for total 5 weeks, i.e. 10 applications in total. After 1 month interval there was a second treatment cycle of 20 treatment sessions, i.e. 30 applications in total. The temperature applied was 39 – 40 degrees Celsius.
The result was very promising and suggested hyperthermia to be effective as Peyronie's treatment:
"Hyperthermia significantly reduced plaque size and penile curvature and led to an increase in mean scores of erectile function (EF) domain, while verapamil had no such effects. Haemodynamic parameters were not significantly modified in either group. Hyperthermia caused significantly fewer side effects than verapamil infiltrations and was significantly more effective in preventing disease progression. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of pain reduction during erection"
Interestingly these men had advanced Peyronie's disease, which usually have less success with non-surgical Peyronie's treatments.
This Peyronie's Heat Treatment Study evaluated the effectiveness and safety of the combination of hyperthermia, vitamin D and testosterone in the treatment of Peyronie's disease compared with hyperthermia alone.
This is again small study but the participants were divided into two groups, one receiving only hyperthermia treatment, the other receiving hyperthermia treatment as well as Vitamin D (4000 IU/day/oral) and one injection of Testosterone depot (Durateston®) every 2 weeks initially (patients with baseline levels of free testosterone under median normal level).
The hyperthermia therapy included 30 minutes a day with infrared lamp of 150 W at a distance of approximately 20 cm over the plague(s) and curvature.
This trial is said to be concluded but I have not been able to find the results of this trial (have enquired about the status).
The objective of this recent Peyronie's Oncothermia Study (2013) is to treat Peyronie's disease with new kind of hyperthermia method, i.e. using special oncothermia device to treat Peyronie’s disease.
Oncothermia is a special hyperthermia that has been used for long time in oncology to treat different types of tumors. Oncothermia delivers selective, controlled and deep energy to the treated area.
This pilot study used special adaptively modified oncothermia device, called Androtherm. This is a small study (at present with final data for 22 patients) and it is still on-going, but the initial findings are promising:
"Based on the results obtained, we can say that the Androtherm can be considered a feasible promising new therapy for the treatment of Peyronie’s disease. The study is still in progress and the results of new cases in treatment confirm the validity of the method"
This table summarizes the preliminary results:
| Androtherm | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Plaque Size | ||
| Number of patients | 22 | 22 |
| Average plaque size (mm) | 12.3 | 6.2 |
| Standard deviation | 7.2 | 4.3 |
| Penile Curvature | ||
| Number of patients | 15 | 15 |
| Average curvature (deg) | 35.8 | 23.7 |
| Standard deviation | 16.3 | 10.1 |
| Erectile Dysfunction | ||
| Number of patients | 10 | 10 |
| Average IIEF score | 46.1 | 57.5 |
| Standard deviation | 13.5 | 9.5 |
So does Peyronie's heat therapy work? The initial results from studies seems promising and you would expect more interest into this area as hyperthermia could be considered relatively safe and effective Peyronie's treatment option (and likely to be less expensive than many other Peyronie's treatment options).
I have no explanation for this lack of interest by health professionals. However, the bottom line is that the studies done so far are small and more studies are required.
Is There Any Health Risk Involved?
Peyronie's heat therapy seems to be relatively safe treatment option as long as the temperature is kept under control. Most normal tissues are not damaged during hyperthermia if the temperature remains under 111°F or 43.9 °C (National Cancer Institute ).
My Personal Experience And Opinion Peyronie's Heat Therapy
I have no experience of Peyronie's heat treatment but I find it an interesting treatment option based on above studies / preliminary findings. I would definitely discuss this option with my doctor, i.e. as part of my overall Peyronie's treatment plan.
Can You (Should You) Do It Yourself?
There are number of ways to apply excessive heat to the penis / penis plaque, i.e. heat packs, heat lamps, etc.
I personally would not undertake DIY Peyronie's heat treatment without discussing it first with my doctor, i.e. to make sure doing it correctly.
There are some risks involved. Excessive heat is for example not good for sperm production. You must also be careful not to burn your penis or surrounding area. To be on the safe side, I recommend only undergoing Peyronie's heat treatment if you have your doctors' approval / guidance.
