Cavernosometry: corroboratory method to surgical treatment of impotence due to venous leakage.

There are still controversies about the mechanism of penile erection. Arterial aspects of impotence have received considerable attention, but just recently the venous component became widely recognized. Twenty patients with abnormal cavernosometry (flow rate over 280 mL/min) and no rigid erections (intracavernosal pressure lower than 80 mm Hg) were analyzed. Surgical ligation of the dorsal veins was performed in 12 cases, 9 of which also required ligation of the crus of each corpus cavernosum. After these ligations, erection improved sufficiently to allow satisfactory intercourse in 9 of 12 patients. Two patients became impotent after eight months of normal sexual performance. The 3 failures showed persistently high flow rates and one leakage by the crural edge which had not been ligated at surgery. In selected patients with organic impotence the venous abnormalities should be assessed routinely and dorsal veins and the crural edge of the corpus cavernosum should be ligated in an attempt to restore erectile function.

[Traumatic urethral stenosis in children]. / Estenosis traumáticas de uretra en niños.

A study is made of 20 children suffering from postraumatic, urethral stenosis and they compare the different techniques used in repairing it. Different methods have been proposed but all produce poor results and doubts always arise in a specific case. The stenoses presented in our study occurred at different levels; four in the bulbar urethra and 16 in the membranous urethra. The patients have been divided into four groups, according to the surgical technique applied. The results have been assessed according to the functioning, radiological aspect and the absence or presence of urinary infection. With reference to the functional aspect, 89.5% presented good results, which is greater than those registered in adults. The explanation may lie in the better, local conditions at the time of surgery and the fact that none of these stenoses were of inflammatory origin.