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‘Sildenafil and pharmaco-penile duplex ultrasonography’ by Speel et al: inconclusive results

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 14, pages 136–137 (2002)Cite this article

The recent study of Speel and co-workers1 was designed to test whether or not a high dose of sildenafil could replace a single low dose intracorporeal injection (ICI) during pharmaco-penile duplex ultrasonography (PPDU). Eleven erectile dysfunction (ED) patients entered this cross-over study, and underwent PPDU twice with an interval of 2 weeks; six patients started with sildenafil plus visual erotic stimulation (VES), five started with ICI without VES.

Although the authors consider their article a ‘preliminary report’ they are less hesitant in the conclusions they reach on the basis of this study: ‘sildenafil may replace ICI as mode of stimulation during PPDU’. On the basis of their experimental design they should not reach such a conclusion. It is quite significant that in the sildenafil mode the patients start the duplex scanning simultaneously with VES, whereas there is no VES in the ICI mode. This is surprising in light of earlier publications of the same group of investigators where they found that VES stimulation in ED patients together with a low dose ICI during PPDU (also recommended by Montorsi et al2) yielded significantly higher erectile response rates than ICI or VES alone.3 Even a simple self-report instrument as the post-investigation questionnaire reduced very significantly (by more than 50%) the number of patients with a false-positive diagnosis of veno-occlusive dysfunction with PPDU.4

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endocrinology and Reproduction, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    A K Slob

  2. Department of Urology and Andrology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    G R Dohle

  3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    L Incrocci

Authors
  1. A K Slob
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  2. G R Dohle
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  3. L Incrocci
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Correspondence to A K Slob.

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Slob, A., Dohle, G. & Incrocci, L. ‘Sildenafil and pharmaco-penile duplex ultrasonography’ by Speel et al: inconclusive results. Int J Impot Res 14, 136–137 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijir.3900826

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