A circumvaginal muscle nomogram: a new diagnostic tool for evaluation of female sexual dysfunction.

Female orgasmic capacity was previously shown to vary significantly with the condition of the pubococcygeus muscle as evaluated by an extensive digital examination and readings from a perineometer, a pressure sensitive device inserted into the vagina. Subsequently, a discriminant analysis was applied to 6 types of perineometer readings to determine if an optimal combination of readings could alone serve as an accurate evaluation of muscle condition. Initial strength resting and initial strength contracting predicted "good" versus "bad" muscle with 73.4% accuracy. A nomogram is presented for clinical use.

Time factors and orgasmic response.

A retrospective review of data from a 619-member female sample presenting for treatment of sexual dysfunction was conducted to determine if foreplay and intromission duration variables were related to sexual dysfunction. Patients were assigned to coitally anorgasmic and noncoitally anorgasmic, coitally anorgasmic and noncoitally orgasmic, or coitally and noncoitally orgasmic categories on the basis of interview data collected by a nurse-physician team. Duration measure differences are not found between diagnostic categories. However, significant differences are reported for the duration measures between status of relationship groupings: married, single, divorced, or cohabitating (p less than 0.05). Data from the sexually dysfunctional sample are compared with data from the surveys of Kinsey, Fisher, and Hunt. The importance of extended foreplay and intromission in enhancing female coital orgasmic response is not supported.

Research criteria for male erectile failure.

Although the spectrum of psychosexual disorders is rather broad, there is a specific subgroup of sexual function disorders which has recently received wide attention due to the increased treatment success reported with the use of primarily behavioral means. Classification in this area, however, has been quite variable making replication of studies quite difficult. Although this is somewhat improved in the new psychiatric nomenclature DSM III, that nomenclature is still not physiologically based and does not allow the specificity necessary for replication of studies for research. We present here a nosology for the sexual function disorders based on physiology and with the capability of specificity necessary for replication. It is adaptable to the current edition of DSM III.

Female orgasm: role of pubococcygeus muscle.

An examination is made of the role of the pubococcygeus muscle in relation to female orgasm in 281 women. A statistically significant difference is reported between orgasmic and anorgasmic women and the physiological state of the pubococcygeus muscle as measured using a pressure sensitive device inserted in the vagina. These data suggest the pubococcygeus muscle plays an important part in the pathophysiology of female orgasm.