Human penile erection and organic impotence: normal histology and histopathology.

A very large amount of human material (7 embryos, 12 stillborns, 12 penes of males aged between 2 and 86 years, as well as bioptical material from 80 subjects affected by impotence problems) has been examined so as to study the penis arterial and venous walls, the blood flow regulation mechanisms and the intracavernal trabecular morphology. The amount of muscle tissue and of collagenous connective tissue has been numerically quantified by computer-assisted methods. This study enables the authors to underline three fundamental facts: (a) it confirms the normal penile erection mechanism, and the consequent theory, (b) it confirms that vascular sclerosis is a systemic phenomenon correlated to age, and that the penis is not exempt, and (c) in the case of impotence problems, the same sclerosis phenomenon may appear at an earlier age, and therefore induce pathological impotence.