[The use of PGE1 in the treatment of erectile deficiency]

A total of 118 patients entered into a pharmacological erection program using prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) from September 1994 to November 1995. Of the men 20 (16.9%) used PGE1 on a regular basis, median duration of drug use was 4 months with a range of 2 to 14 months, while 66 (55.9%) failed to continue in the program after the dose titration period, (median duration of drug use 6 weeks), 32 (27.1%) failed to initiate PGE1 pharmacological erection program. There have been no instances of cavernous fibrosis, systemic reaction, penile pain after injection or priapism (erection present longer than 4 hours) in any patient; 24 (20.3%) men were unable to achieve an adequate erection with PGE1 intracavernous injections. PGE1 appears to have a lower risk of prolonged erections than other intracavernous agents and will continue to increase in popularity. However we report an interesting number of men who fail to continue (55.9%) or fail to initiate (16.9%) PGE1 therapy.