EXPERIENCE WITH TRIPLE-DRUG THERAPY IN A PHARMACOLOGICAL ERECTION PROGRAM

A group of 170 impotent men achieved usable erections during a 26-mont h period with a combination of papaverine, phentolamine and prostaglan din E1 (triple-drug therapy) injected intracorporeally. Of the patient s 146 elected to enter a pharmacological erection program using this c ombination. Patient age ranged from 24 to 85 years and the average dur ation on the program was 11.2 months. Average injection volume was 0.3 6 cc per injection (range 0.1 to 1). Among those patients managed by o ur nurse clinician, only 3 episodes of priapism were encountered (1.7% ). Scarring was documented in 7 of 170 patients (4.2%) 1 week to 21 mo nths after starting the injections. Pain was encountered in 6 of 170 p atients (3.5%). A superior dose response coupled with a low incidence of priapism, pain and scarring have led us to use triple-drug therapy as our agent of choice in the pharmacological management of erectile d ysfunction.