[Functional magnetic resonance of Peyronie's disease in the chronic stable phase]

La Peyronie's disease (induratio penis plastica) is a degenerative process involving the penis, whose cause is still not fully explained. Adequate treatment requires the correct staging of La Peyronie's disease. Diagnostic imaging plays a major role after case history and clinics. Several imaging methods are used, including self-photography, plain radiography, CT, pharmaco-cavernosography, plain and duplex Doppler US. Enhanced MRI can be useful to correctly localize the plaques and to detect early changes in La Peyronie's disease, since the fibrous plaques with persistent inflammatory infiltration can be distinguished from the plaques in which inflammation has ceased. The diagnostic approach to La Peyronie's disease has been substantially modified by adding an examination during the erection induced by the intracavernosal injection of papaverine to the examination in the flaccid state. The authors report on the capabilities of unenhanced MRI after the intracavernosal injection of papaverine in steady chronic La Peyronie's disease. MRI was performed with an 0.5 T superconductive unit. Six patients (age range: 46-60 years, mean 52 years) who had been ill for about five years were studied. SE T1-weighted images and FS T2-weighted images were performed in both the flaccid and the erect states. Our results prove MR capabilities in both states in steady chronic La Peyronie's disease, which suggests MRI as the technique of choice for planning surgical treatment.