Novel Penile Ultrasound Technique to Explain Mechanism of Erectile Dysfunction (ED) in Young Patients using Finasteride for Androgenic Alopecia
Rubin et al., 2018
“This new protocol is able to show that PFS men complaining of ED may have an underlying biologic pathophysiology. Further we hypothesise that finasteride lowers DHT leading to corporal smooth muscle apoptosis and fibrosis similar to animal models.”
Rubin et al. Performed penile duplex Doppler ultrasound examination with a high frequency probe during maximal pharmacologic erection on 27 PFS patients. Patients had a mean age of 31, no known cardiovascular risk factors, and had sexual dysfunction following use of finasteride.
26 of 27 patients (96%) demonstrated lack of homogeneity and hyperechoic/hypoechoic regions in erectile tissue.
The authors hypothesised DHT reduction by finasteride induced corporal smooth muscle apoptosis and fibrosis. They conclude this may represent a biologic pathophysiology responsible for impairing tissue expandability, resulting in venoocclusive dysfunction and erectile dysfunction.
