Intracavernosal injection of pharmacological agents in the diagnosis and treatment of impotence.

This study details our initial experience with pharmacologically induced penile erections in the diagnosis and therapy of patients with impotence. Intracavernosal injections of papaverine were performed in 5 normal volunteers, 5 patients with psychogenic impotence and 2 patients with penile venous incompetence. The patients were first investigated extensively to determine the etiological basis for their erectile dysfunction. It was observed that the patients with psychogenic impotence and the normal volunteers showed a good response whereas the patients with venous incompetence failed to achieve erection in response to intracavernosal injection. A new drug, Prostaglandin E1 was also tried for the first time for comparison. It appears that this drug has potential advantages over the currently used agent papaverine for the production of pharmacological erections.