Impotence in vascular disease: relationship to vascular surgery.

This review considers diagnosis and treatment of vasculogenic impotence. It describes current information related to normal mechanisms of penile erection and pathophysiology of organic impotence, methods of preoperative diagnosis, quantitative evaluation of penile blood flow and operative techniques to be employed in aneurysmal or occlusive aorto-iliac disease. The importance of preserving internal iliac flow and neural fibres enervating the genitalia is stressed. Large vessel reconstructions have proved practical in maintaining or restoring normal erectile function, but at present reconstructions of isolated pudendal or penile artery occlusions are experimental. Medical therapy can be effective in certain marginal cases of small vessel occlusion.