INTRACAVERNOUS INJECTION OF PROSTAGLANDIN-E1 PLUS PROCAINE IN THE TREATMENT OF ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION

Despite the availability of prostaglandin E1 for more than 7 years as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in patients with erectile dysfunctio n, the problem of penile discomfort after prostaglandin E1 application has remained unsolved. In a randomized, double-blind, crossover study we investigated the effect of 2 different prostaglandin E1-procaine c oncentrations on 24 patients suffering from pain following intracorpor eal injection of prostaglandin E1 alone. Intracavernous injection of 2 0 mu g. prostaglandin E1 with 10 mg. procaine (study 1) failed to impr ove local painful sensations. The combination of 20 mu g. prostaglandi n E1 with 20 mg. procaine (study 2) decreased the incidence of local p ain significantly (p <0.01). These preliminary results show that the c ombination of prostaglandin E1 plus procaine represents a beneficial a lternative in patients with penile pain due to the single substance.