Background: Records of nocturnal penile tumescence are still important test and necessary to distinguish organic impotence from psycogenic impotence.
Methods: We developed the nocturnal penile tumescence recorder with a disposab indiumgallium straingauge, and we examined its clinical usefulness for volunteers with normal erectile function.
Results: The results were that the indium-gallium straingauge had almost the same resistance change with extension, and that it showed almost the same resistance value at respective circumferences with consecutively ten times measurements. Only two of thirty-nine volunteers experienced the snapping of the indium-gallium strain-gauge. None of the volunteers complained of discomfort during measurements. The nocturnal penile tumescence of five volunteers were recorded with a conventional mercuric straingauge and a newly developed indium-gallium straingauge simultaneously, and there were no significant differences between the results of the two materials. This recorder is very simple to manage, and the softwares for preservation of data and making graph are also simple. This new straingauge is clean and dose not require maintenance because of the disposable use.
Conclusion: We concluded that this recorder system was clinically useful for t examination of nocturnal penile tumescence.