THE IMPACT OF AGING ON PENILE HEMODYNAMICS IN NORMAL RESPONDERS TO PHARMACOLOGICAL INJECTION - A DOPPLER SONOGRAPHIC STUDY

Purpose: The change in arterial flow velocity with age in patients wit h a normal response to pharmacological injection was evaluated. Materi als and Methods: We studied 64 patients with erectile dysfunction who responded well to intracavernous injection of 10 mu g. prostaglandin E 1 with well sustained penile rigidity for longer than 1 hour and norma l cavernous arterial flow velocities on color Doppler ultrasonography. The men were classified into 4 groups according to age younger than 3 0 years, and 30 to 39, 40 to 49 and 50 years old or older. Flow parame ters were compared. Results: The statistically significant decreasing tendency of peak systolic velocity with age was revealed by a simple r egression test (p = 0.003). The greatest decrease was observed between patients in the third and fourth decades. When comparing the peak sys tolic velocity according to timing of measurement, the greatest veloci ties occurred at later measurements after the fifth decade, while in y ounger patients these values were reached earlier. Conclusions: These data demonstrate that cavernous arterial flow during pharmacological e rection decreases and the response time of the cavernous artery or tis sue to a vasoactive drug becomes longer with age.