[Efficacy of Doppler color echography in the diagnosis of caverno-venous leakage in the impotent patient].

Duplex sonography is now the gold standard for the non-invasive study of cavernous arteries. Many authors consider that this technique allows for the exploration of the veno-occlusive system and can detect venous leakage. The most common criteria is an end diastolic velocity > 5 cm/s, measured in the cavernous arteries. In a retrospective study, 34 impotent patients were reviewed. All of them were explored both by doppler sonography and pharmacocavernosometry to assess the efficacy of duplex sonography in detecting venous leakage. The data show that the doppler detects venous leakage in only 41%. The specificity and the sensitivity are both 50% which is clearly disappointing. Therefore, in our experience, duplex sonography is not a reliable technique to detect venous leakage. We consider that the best method is still pharmacocavernosometry.