The impact of aging on penile hemodynamics in normal responders to pharmacological injection: a Doppler sonographic study

Abstract

Purpose: The change in arterial flow velocity with age in patients with a normal response to pharmacological injection was evaluated.

Materials and methods: We studied 64 patients with erectile dysfunction who responded well to intracavernous injection of 10 micrograms. prostaglandin E1 with well sustained penile rigidity for longer than 1 hour and normal cavernous arterial flow velocities on color Doppler ultrasonography. The men were classified into 4 groups according to age younger than 30 years, and 30 to 39, 40 to 49 and 50 years old or older. Flow parameters were compared.

Results: The statistically significant decreasing tendency of peak systolic velocity with age was revealed by a simple regression test (p = 0.003). The greatest decrease was observed between patients in the third and fourth decades. When comparing the peak systolic velocity according to timing of measurement, the greatest velocities occurred at later measurements after the fifth decade, while in younger patients these values were reached earlier.

Conclusions: These data demonstrate that cavernous arterial flow during pharmacological erection decreases and the response time of the cavernous artery or tissue to a vasoactive drug becomes longer with age.