December 1997, Volume 9, Issue 4, Pages 205 – 209

Article

Long-term results following dorsal penile vein ligation in 126 patients with veno-occlusive dysfunction D Schultheiss1, MC Truss, AJ Becker, CG Stief & U Jonas Department of Urology, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany     1Correspondence: Dr D Schultheiss

Keywords

erectile dysfunction;   venous leakage;   prognostic factors;   surgery

Abstract

One hundred and forty-seven patients who had dorsal penile vein ligation (DPVL) between 1987 and 1996 were re-investigated either during clinical consultation or by standardised telephone interview respectively questionnaire. One hundred and twenty-six patients were available for long-term follow-up. Postoperative outcome was classified into complete spontaneous erection, postoperative response to pharmacotherapy or no satisfactory improvement. The short-term success after 1-3 months according to this classification was 31 (24.6%), 25 (19.8%) and 70 (55.6%). These results were found to have deteriorated on long-term observation; with only 14 (11.2%), 24 (19.0%) and 88 (69.8%) respectively. Positive prognostic factors were preoperative duration of erectile dysfunction of 7 y, a normal CC-EMG and a maintenance flow of 45 ml/min. With all three parameters present, longterm success (spontaneous erection plus responder to intracavernous injection) rose from 30 to 67% in this selected group (P0.001). Our study shows that long-term success for unselected patients undergoing DPVL is disappointing; however, careful patient selection significantly improves long-term results.

Received 14 March 1997; Accepted 8 July 1997

^© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 1997