title: Impotence evaluated by the use of prostaglandin E1.
abstract: We screened 80 patients at our hospital for the differential diagnosis of impotence using intracavernous injection of prostaglandin E1 (20 micrograms). The rate of positive response was 78.8 per cent (63 patients). Neither systemic reactions nor priapism occurred. However, a considerable incidence (23.8 per cent, 19 of 80 patients) of tolerable injection pain was encountered. The 133xenon penile washout study was conducted routinely in impotent men for hemodynamic evaluation of penile vascularity. In 80 patients a positive correlation between the response of intracavernous prostaglandin E1 injection and the result of the washout study was found (r equals 0.381, p less than 0.0002). We selected 14 subjects randomly to receive additional intravenous infusions of prostaglandin E1 (6 ampules, 120 micrograms total) for 3 days, after which another 133xenon washout study was done. The washout studies before and after intravenous prostaglandin E1 infusion were compared, and 10 patients (71.4 per cent) appeared to obtain improvement in half-time clearance and penile blood flow. However, only 3 patients noticed improvement subjectively. We suggest that prostaglandin E1 could be a desirable alternative for the diagnosis and treatment of impotence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Veterans General Hospital-Taichung, Tawan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: T I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Tzai
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000527:Alprostadil; D007172:Erectile Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010410:Penile Erection / Q000187:drug effects*; D010413:Penis / Q000098:blood supply; D014980:Xenon Radioisotopes
chemical_list: D014980:Xenon Radioisotopes; D000527:Alprostadil