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From the time that he began his medical career, Dr. Michael Zahalsky has had a passion for research, most notably in male infertility and male and female sexual dysfunction. Having now successfully established the largest single specialty urology practice in Broward County, Z Urology, he has turned his attention back to making inroads in medical science by studying biologics as a way to treat erectile dysfunction (ED) and Peyronie’s disease.
The founder of UrocellZ Research and medical director of Urostem, Dr. Zahalsky’s goal is to provide education and research into the use of biologics to treat sexual dysfunction, and to provide a way for urologists to gain access to biologic products for their patients. To this end, he has teamed up with the University of Miami Tissue Bank to come up with a safe and effective urology product that can be used to treat sexual dysfunction.
As the field of biologics has taken off over the past five years, urology has lagged behind. “In other fields, like podiatry, orthopedics, and plastic surgery, more than 100,000 cases a year have used biologics,” Dr. Zahalsky explained. “There are likely less than 1,000 urology cases across the country.”
Dr. Zahalsky has been studying biologics in his practice since 2011, and has undertaken two IRB-approved studies using amniotic-based products to treat erectile dysfunction and Peyronie’s disease. He is the first physician in the U.S. to publish results in a peer-reviewed journal from a study about the use of biologics injected into a human with ED, and the first in the world to publish results from injecting biologics into a person with Peyronie’s disease.
After presenting his research at two American Urology Association meetings, and publishing his research in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, he was approached by the tissue bank to collaborate on a biologic product specific for urologists’ use.
“This is a game-changer in terms of the entire sexual dysfunction field and the field of urology,” he said of ProFlo amniotic fluid, which has shown a statistically significant increase in blood flow in ED and Peyronie’s disease patients, as well as decreased plaque sizes and numbers and improved curvature in patients with Peyronie’s disease.
Dr. Zahalsky is currently arranging transfer agreements with a number of universities to study the way in which amniotic fluid works, and will be speaking at the World Stem Cell Summit in December.
