Penile Venous Surgery

Abstract

SUMMARY Excessive venous flow during erection is an acknowledged cause of impotence. At the turn of the century, Wooten9 and Lydston5 reported a cure rate of roughly 50 per cent after ligation of the deep dorsal vein of the penis. In 1979, Ebbehoj and Wagner2 restored potency in three of four patients with venous leakage. Later, Virag6,7 reported the diagnostic technique of dynamic cavernosography and proposed deep venous ligation. In 1985, Wespes and Schulman8 reported an 80 per cent success rate for correction of venogenic impotence by ligating the deep dorsal vein and its tributaries. Since then, Bennett and associates1 have achieved success in six of eight patients, and Lewis and Puyau3 report a 50 to 75 per cent success. With the technique described above, after careful selection and proper diagnostic testing, impotence has resolved or erection improved in more than 80 per cent of our patients.