Objective: To assess the reproducibility of penile arterial colour duplex ultrasonography (CDU) in patients with impotence.
Patients and methods: Fifty-eight patients underwent CDU of their penile arteries on two occasions 2 weeks apart. Group A (n = 34) received 60 mg of papaverine intracavernosally before CDU and group B (n = 24) received a combination of papaverine, prostaglandin E1 and phentolamine. The variables measured during CDU were peak systolic velocity (PSV) and the end diastolic velocity (EDV), with the systolic rise-time (SRT) also recorded in group B.
Results: In both groups of patients the reproducibility between the first and second recordings was poor for all variables. The mean variation in PSV was 31.5% and 40.2%, and in EDV was 44.9% and 50.1%, for groups A and B, respectively. For the SRT, measured only in group B, the mean variation was 25.7%.
Conclusions: These results show that CDU is a poorly reproducible technique for assessing vascular status in patients with impotence. Therefore, it is not reliable in the long-term follow-up of patients and single measurements should be interpreted with caution.