Etiology of premature ejaculation from the perspective of Traditional Persian Medicine and conventional medicine

Introduction: Premature ejaculation (PE) that is named as "Sorat-e-Enzal" [ejaculation quickly] in traditional Persian medicine (PM), means to ejaculate sooner than one minute from the start of vaginal penetration, inability to delay ejaculation and distress and suffering during intercourse. Its prevalence has been reported 2.3 to 30 percent. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the causes of premature ejaculation in traditional and conventional medicine and use it to explain more accurate concept of pathophysiology of the disease which provides more appropriate way to achieve therapeutic protocol. Method: Data collection was based on targeted review of the credible books from traditional medicine such as Canon of Medicine and recent reference books and literatures in urology and psychiatry. The causes of premature ejaculation were obtained by searching keywords such as premature ejaculation and sexual disorders in databases including Pub Med, Science Direct, SID (Scientific Information Database) and also Google Scholar from 2004 to 2016. The causes identified were summarized in a table and the similarities and differences were determined. Results: At the first look, the causes of premature ejaculation in traditional and conventional medicine seem to be different but more exact comparison showed significant similarities. The effect of six essential factors (named as sette-zarurieh in PM) on PE has been explained in both traditional and conventional medicine. In conventional and traditional medicine, the diseases of heart, liver, stomach and kidney and also neurological and psychological disorders cited as factors for sexual dysfunction. Factors related to the penis diseases, metabolic disorders or physiological, anatomical, histological diseases and causes related to sexual gonads have been mentioned in both conventional and traditional medicine. Conventional medicine specifically expresses hormonal causes (hyperthyroidism) whilst Persian medicine exclusively has explained symptoms related to semen liquid in this disorder. Discussion & Conclusion: This review has categorized fourteen causes for premature ejaculation that are similar in both conventional and Persian medicine in almost all fields.