In regard to Selek et al. erectile dysfunction and radiation dose to penile base structures: A lack of correlation. IJROBP 2004;59:1039–1046

Abstract

The recent report by Selek et al. (1) used a dose–volume histogram (DVH) analysis after three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) for prostate cancer to retrospectively compare the doses received by the base of the penis of 10 men who developed erectile dysfunction (ED) with those of 18 men who did not. They were unable to find a correlation between the radiation dose delivered to the base of the penis and the development of ED. The lack of correlation between dose and ED furthers the controversy over the role of dose to the proximal penis as an etiologic factor; however, there are some important issues relevant to the study of erectile tissue toxicity that should be considered.