Alterations of intracorporeal structures in patients with erectile dysfunction

We sought to quantify intracavernosal smooth muscle content (SMC), endothelial cells (EC) and elastic fibres (EF) in both potent and impotent men. We compare the results in impotent men with regard to patient age, aetiology of impotence, presence or absence of diabetes mellitus and smoking.

Seventy penile biopsies were taken from 10 potent patients with congenital penile curvature (age 17-24 years, mean: 21 +/- 1.16) and from 60 impotent patients (age 28-64 years, mean: 46 +/- 7.64). Biopsies were stained immunohistochemically to quantify the percentage of SMC by anti-desmin and anti-SMA, anti-CD-34 for EC and Verhoeff's histochemical staining for EF. Statistical analyses were performed by using one-way Anova after square root transformation.

We observed a statistically significant difference in the amounts of corporeal SMC, EC and EF with regard to the following subgroups: potent versus impotent men; men with arterial aetiology versus veno-occlusive aetiology; men under the age of 45 versus men over the age of 45; patients with diabetes mellitus versus non-diabetes mellitus, and smokers versus non-smokers.

Quantification of intracavernosal structures appears to be important for either understanding the mechanism of impotence or deciding the appropriate treatment.