Pharmacological erection: diagnosis and treatment applications in 69 patients

Pharmacological erection is becoming an accepted form of treatment in the impotent patient. We report on our experience in 69 men with organic and psychogenic etiologies using intracorporeal injection with a mixture of papaverine hydrochloride and phentolamine mesylate. A good response was achieved in all patients except those with severe arterial or venous insufficiency. Although it was used primarily in cases of organic impotence, we found intracorporeal injection to be valuable in the patient with psychogenic impotence as an adjunct to sex therapy. Auto-injection was practiced by 74 per cent of our patients with a good response and 50 per cent noticed subjective improvement in the ability to obtain natural erections. Priapism was the most significant complication and occurred in 8.7 per cent of the patients. However, most patients have expressed satisfaction with this alternative to penile implantation.