[Treatment of erectile insufficiency]

Impotency, or impaired erectile function, affects approximately 10% of the adult males in France. The psychological consequences can have a major impact not only on the subject's sexual life but also his familial and professional relationships. The task facing the urologists is to carefully evaluate the patient's request for care and adapt treatment not only to the physiological situation but also the patient's psychological and social context. Several approaches have been developed. Search for an aetiology, excepting exceptional cases with a recognized organic origin, is often unsatisfactory due to the multifactor processes involved and the self-sustaining inter-relationship between the psychological impact and the physiological disorder. Sex therapy is aimed at reducing anxiety and helping the couple better understand their sexual relationship. Such behavioural counselling is particularly indicated in absence of organic disorders or as complementary therapy combined with medical or surgical treatment. The pharmacological approach relies on alphablockers or certain psychotropic drugs which have a moderate but real effect when taken orally. Local non-invasive applications of protaglandin E1 can also improve erectile function. The mechanism of intrapenial injections is to release the erectile smooth muscles. The most widely used drugs in France are papaverine, phentolamine and moxisylite as well as prostaglandin E1. Self-injections may be required in certain cases but are abandoned by about half of the patients after one or two months. Vacuum with a mechanical pump can produce a non-physiological erection but is rarely used in France. Surgical repair of arterial or venous disorders can also provide excellent, particularly long-term, results in carefully selected patients. Despite undeniable progress, the treatment of impotency remains a difficult therapeutic challenge, basically due to the large number of casual factors and their complex interactions.