[Doppler velocimetric study of the arteries involved in erection. A new diagnostic approach to sexual impotence of arterial origin].

With the aim of diagnosing possible arterial causes of sexual impotence, a Doppler study of the arteries of erection (dorsal arteries of the penis, left and right cavernous arteries) was performed according to an original protocol on 132 patients with cardiovascular disease. The Doppler study included recording of mean arterial flow and the measurement of the systolic pressure of the arteries of erection with a specially designed cuff connected to a manometer. In 60 out of 132 cases the investigation demonstrated an arterial component in the cause of the impotence and was able to determine whether the disease was uni- or bilateral. The disturbance of penile irrigation was constantly associated with a lengthening of the decceleration phase of the arterial flow curve. Aortography was carried out in 46 of these 60 cases and confirmed the results by showing arterial disease and its location: aortic bifurcation (33 cases) ischio-perineal trunk and/or the perineal branch of the hypogastric artery (7 cases), hypogastric artery (6 cases). Reliable and atraumatic, our protocol allows a precise diagnostic of possible arterial components in sexual impotence; it should therefore be an integral part of investigation of impotence of recent onset.