Subclinical trauma to perineum: a possible etiology of erectile dysfunction in young men

A substantial number of young men with erectile dysfunction have neither systemic disease nor a trauma in their history. We are familiar with impotence after major trauma but it is an unanswered question whether subclinical trauma may also induce arterial degeneration with subsequent erectile dysfunction. In a period of 36 months 129 patients underwent penile arteriography. After excluding those with major surgery, trauma or psychogenic impotence 91 angiograms were reevaluated. Special attention was paid to atherosclerotic and to focal occlusive arterial disease (> 50% stenosis) in the hypogastric-cavernous branch. 12 angiograms showed normal arteries, 59 typical atherosclerotic and 20 focal occlusive arterial disease. The mean age of patients with atherosclerosis was 53 +/- 8 years versus 35 +/- 14 years of those with focal lesions (p < 0.0001). 30% with focal arterial lesions were subject to subclinical trauma. 68% with atherosclerotic disease had clinical relevant atherosclerotic risk factors. Latency between onset of erectile dysfunction and presentation at the impotence clinic was 51 months in patients with focal lesions and 39 months in those with atherosclerotic disease (nonsignificant). We conclude that subclinical trauma of the hypogatric-cavernous arteries can induce focal arterial lesions with significant impairment of perfusion. This pathology may contribute to erectile dysfunction. These patients are significantly younger and they suffer from clinically evident impotence approximately 18 years earlier than patients whose impotence is clearly of atherosclerotic origin. Focal arterial lesions due to subclinical trauma are described for the first time as an etiology of erectile dysfunction. Further studies are needed to confirm these results.