Electrocavernosogram in erectile dysfunction: a diagnostic tool.

Abstract

Corpora cavernosa (CC) evoke electric waves that appear to be of diagnostic significance in evaluation of erectile dysfunction (ED). We investigated the hypothesis that electrocavernosography (ECG) exhibits different patterns in the various types of ED: neurogenic, vasculogenic, and psychogenic. Electrocavernosography was performed in the flaccid phase in 16 neurogenic, 28 vasculogenic (15 arteriogenic, 13 venogenic), and 24 psychogenic patients with ED, and in 15 healthy volunteers (controls). Two needle electrodes were introduced into the CC and the EMG activity was recorded in each of the 2 CCs of the same subject. Two 20 minute recording sessions were performed for each subject. The controls recorded slow waves (SWs) with regular rhythm and identical frequency, amplitude and conduction velocity from the 2 electrodes of the same subject. Random action potentials (APs) were superimposed on or followed the SWs. The ECG in the neurogenic ED recorded no waves in 14/16 patients and occasional irregular waves in 2. The SWs of the arteriogenic ED had irregular rhythm and variable and low parameters compared to those of the controls. The ECG of the patients with venogenic ED was similar to that of the controls, while the ECG of the psychogenic ED exhibited SWs with irregular rhythm and higher parameters than the controls. The study has revealed various ECG patterns in ED: "silent" in neurogenic. "bradyarrhythmic" in arteriogenic, "normal" in venogenic, and "overactive" in psychogenic ED. We suggest that electrocavernosography has the potential to function as an investigative tool in diagnosing the type of ED provided further studies are performed to verify the described findings.