[Doppler ultrasound of penis arteries]

In addition to pharmaco testing, pharmaco-Doppler sonography of the penile arteries is part of the basic work-up for erectile dysfunction. Insufficient training with the Doppler method, lack of standardized criteria for evaluation of the penis, and analysis of the Doppler curves all make it difficult to use Doppler sonography for the evaluation of impotent men. The aim of this study was to explain the principal criteria of the method and demonstrate the most important details for analyzing the form of the Doppler waves. Pharmaco-Doppler sonography includes the evaluation of blood-flow velocities within the dorsal and deep cavernous arteries of the penis before and after intracavernous application of a vasoactive drug. The following main criteria have proven to be most important for analysis of the Doppler curves: evaluation of the amplitude height, the actual wave form, differences between the left and right arteries and along the individual vessel, amplitude increase, and elevation of the curve baseline after pharmaco stimulation. The most frequent mistakes made during evaluation of the penile arteries are changes in the probe angle, pressure put on the artery by the probe during evaluation and a false estimation of the evaluation time after pharmaco stimulation. Recently, duplex sonography of the penile arteries has been introduced, and this method allows an accurate measurement of the blood-flow velocity and arterial diameter changes before and after application of the drug. Furthermore, additional calculation of the resistancy index permits determination of the vascular resistance and optimizes the evaluation of the penile arterial status. The technical details, the method, and the analyzation criteria are all explained in detail.