Erection Problems in Medical Practice: Differential Diagnosis with Relatively Simple Method

Abstract

Functional sexual potency can be assumed when penile erection occurs during visual erotic stimulation, and to a lesser degree with normal nocturnal penile tumescence. Erection, increase in circumference as well as rigidity, can be measured with a simple device consisting of a calibrated felt band with a sliding collar fastened to 1 end. Subjects were 58 consecutive patients, mainly from a urology outpatient department, with erection problems and 67 healthy control men. Changes in penile circumference were measured during viewing of an erotic videotape and during sleep. Functional sexual potency, at least partially, was presumed to exist in 41 patients (71%), many of whom had a somatic pathological condition that might easily have been believed to be the cause of the erectile dysfunction. During the latter half of the study nocturnal penile tumescence also was measured. This group included 7 patients who did not respond to the visual stimuli, 5 of whom had normal nocturnal penile tumescence. We conclude that the erection meter, in conjunction with an erotic video test and nocturnal penile tumescence measurements, is a useful and simple device in the differential diagnosis of erectile difficulties in men. This is true especially when elaborate sleep laboratory facilities and neurophysiological equipment are not available. (J. Urol, 143: 46–50, 1990)