DIURNAL PENILE TUMESCENCE RECORDING IN THE ETIOLOGIC DIAGNOSIS OF ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION

Rapid eye movement sleep occurs during napping. We investigated the ap pearance of penile tumescence during periods of day napping in a popul ation of 18 impotent men who, in addition, underwent a comprehensive s leep investigation for impotence, including polysomnographic recording and nocturnal penile tumescence monitoring. Of the subjects 16 (88%) had rapid eye movement sleep during the night. Four patients who did n ot have erections on 2 separate sessions of nocturnal sleep recording also did not experience penile tumescence during the day. Of the 12 pa tients with documented erections at night 9 (75%) also exhibited erect ile episodes during napping. Diurnal penile tumescence recording is le ss cumbersome, less expensive and more convenient to perform than its nocturnal counterpart. Diurnal penile tumescence appears to be a summa ry reflection of nocturnal penile tumescence episodes. The consistency between nocturnal and diurnal penile tumescence suggests that further study of this new technique is worthwhile. Validation of diurnal peni le tumescence may offer a viable alternative to the comprehensive asse ssment of impotent men.