Cavernous body reduction in four patients with erectile dysfunction due to insufficient venous occlusion and a deficit of elastic fibers in the tunica albuginea.

INTRODUCTION The corpora cavernosa are cylindrical vessels containing fluid under pressure. Thus, if cavernous wall resistance decreases, the radius increases and internal pressure decreases (LaPlace's law). We reasoned that if we decrease the corpus cavernosum radius, by excising a strip from each tunica albuginea, intracavernous pressure would increase during erection. MATERIALS AND METHODS We treated with this procedure, four patients (mean age 41.5) with long-standing erectile dysfunction due to veno-occlusive dysfunction, non-responders to phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors and intracavernous PGE1 injection. RESULTS Two months post-surgery, intracavernous PGE1 (40 mcg) induced a satisfactory erection in two patients and a 45% and 58% tumescence in the other two. PGE1 responders also responded to 100 mg sildenafil. After 100 mg sildenafil and 20 mg tadalafil, the two non-responders had erections that enabled penetration but were short lasting. CONCLUSION The procedure described could be more effective than cavernous revascularization operations. The results seem to confirm the mathematical assumptions.