Objectives: To determine whether the measurement of penile blood flow by colour Doppler imaging (CDI) and the subjective impressions generated from CDI correlate with the results of measuring isotope penile blood flow (IPBF), and thus determine if CDI is a useful screening investigation for vasculogenic impotence.
Patients and methods: The study comprised 37 men with impotence of > 6 months duration. All patients underwent CDI of the penis; the maximum systolic (vmax) and minimum diastolic velocity (vmin) were recorded. Video recordings of the CDI were reviewed subsequently with no knowledge of the erectile response. Twenty-seven patients then underwent measurement of IPBF.
Results: There was no relationship between the results obtained from IPBF and those from CDI, nor was there a significant difference between the vmax of patients identified as having arteriogenic impotence on IPBF and that of normal men or those with venous leakage on IPBF. There was no relationship between the subjective impressions from CDI and the results from IPBF, or with erectile response.
Conclusions: There was no correlation between the results obtained on IPBF and those obtained from CDI; the latter is not useful in differentiating between venogenic and arteriogenic impotence in men who have failed to have a full response to papaverine.