Investigation of vascular changes following penile vein ligation

In an effort to characterize the changes in penile vasculature that occur following penile vein ligation, we performed pharmaco-cavernosometry and pharmaco-cavernosography on 20 patients after penile vein ligation for comparison with preoperative studies. Three patients with return of erectile function underwent repeat study: 2 were completely normal and 1 had a mild leak from the deep dorsal vein. The remaining 17 patients had continued complaints of erectile impairment. Of these studies 4 showed no evidence of venous leakage, 11 identified a new site of leakage (7 corporo-spongiosal shunts, 2 crural veins and 2 with multiple sites of involvement) and 1 revealed persistent leak through the proximal stump of the resected deep dorsal vein, while 1 patient had an iodine allergy and underwent pharmaco-cavernosometry only. A repeat study in the latter patient showed flow volumes consistent with continued venous leakage. In summary, penile vein ligation appears to be effective at correcting venous leakage noted on cavernosography. However, new sites of leakage frequently appear postoperatively. A corporo-spongiosal shunt was the most frequent site of recurrent venous leakage. A surprisingly high percentage of patients with continued complaints of erectile dysfunction following penile vein ligation demonstrate no venous leakage on subsequent pharmaco-cavernosography.