Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 15, Issue 3 227-233, Copyright © 1996 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Doppler sonography in the evaluation of corporovenous competence after penile vein ligation surgery
M. T. Keogan, M. A. Kliewer, B. S. Hertzberg, L. K. Brown, C. C. Carson, W. W. Kerfoot and B. A. Carroll
Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Doppler ultrasonographic findings in patients after penile vein ligation
surgery are described and compared to the results of cavernosometry and
cavernosography. Peak systolic and end diastolic velocities were recorded
for both cavernosal arteries at 5 min intervals after papaverine injection
for a total of 30 min. Peak end diastolic flow rates were compared with
cavernosometric and cavernosographic results at 0-10 min, 11-20 min, and
21-30 min. Cavernosography identified venous leakage in nine patients. The
end diastolic velocities were greater than the 5 cm/s threshold level
generally considered to be indicative of venous leakage in nine of the nine
patients (100%) at 0-10 min, in eight of the nine (89%) at 11-20 min, and
in nine of the nine (100%) at 21-30 min. Although peak end diastolic
velocities at or near the 5 cm/s threshold could be found in patients both
with and without recurrent venous leakage in the initial 10 min of the
studies, only patients with recurrent venous leakage had diastolic
velocities that exceeded the 5 cm/s level when measured 10 min or more
after injection. Measurement of end diastolic velocities between 21 and 30
min after injection seemed to discriminate most effectively the patients
with recurrent venous leakage from those without leakage in the
postoperative population.
