THE CONTRIBUTION OF CAVERNOUS BODY BIOPSY IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF MALE IMPOTENCE

This study concerns the results of penile biopsies in 50 patients aged 27 to 80, with secondary impotence removed with a biopsy gun or durin g penile surgery. The biopsy gun specimens were equally representative as the open biopsy ones. The cause and the degree of erectile dysfunc tion were determined by clinical and laboratorial investigation. The h istological study of the cavernous bodies in the patients with psychog enic impotence revealed normal erectile tissue. In patients with organ ic impotence, histological lesions were graded as mild, moderate or se vere. The most severe lesions were observed in the erectile tissue and in particular in the smooth muscle of the trabeculae and the helicine arteries, which had been reduced and replaced by connective tissue. H istological lesions were found not only in the arterial but also in th e venous leak cases. There was a correlation between their severity an d the degree of impotence, although of no statistical significance. Th e penile biopsy determines the condition (state) of the functional cav ernous smooth muscle tissue, the integrity of which is essential for t he erectile mechanism as well as for the action of the vasoactive drug s and the results of vascular surgery. Its important role is evident a s it contributes not only to the diagnosis of the cause, but also to t he choice of treatment of male impotence.