[Diagnostic and therapeutic approach in organic impotence]

The incidence of impotence increases with age. Its etiology is always complex and often multifactorial. The hidden organic causes of impotence are as follows in decreasing order of frequency: arterial, venous, neurological and endocrine. Paraclinical investigation of erection dysfunction plays an important role: hormone levels, arterial Doppler, digitalised rigidimetry, the intracavernous test, cavernometry-cavernography and internal iliac angiography, are used to define the diagnosis and determine appropriate management. It is stressed that supportive sex therapy is often indispensable and that penile prostheses are the final recourse, when treatment based upon etiology has failed.