Venous drainage and functional control of the canine prostate gland

The venous drainage of the canine prostate gland has been studied in nine dogs after post-mortem intravenous injection of a coloured suspension of latex. A submucosal cavernous plexus of the prostatic urethra continuous with that of the penis, and a previously unnamed vessel that drains this plexus into the prostatico-vesical vein are described. The eferential vein was found to open variably, but always into the prostatic venous system. The data support the concept that a very small retrograde blood flow would take androgen-rich blood from the deferential vein into the prostate gland.