Changes in the corpora cavernosa of impotent diabetics: comparing histological with clinical findings.

In our study, the histological findings showed significant pathological fibrosis affecting the penile arteries and erectile tissue, but no direct damage to the penile nerve fibers. Forty percent of our patients with clinical evidence of penile neuropathies showed no histological evidence to support a neurogenic mechanism of their impotence. In addition, to the consistent vascular lesion found in 90 percent of impotent diabetics in our study, a fibroproliferation of the erectile tissue was predominantly found as well. Our histopathological study seemed to correlate with our previous clinical finding. Does this confirmation of the vascular etiology as a primary cause of impotence in diabetics have practical application? The answer must be "yes". If new diagnostic developments contribute to making an earlier diagnosis of this disease, then more conservative or aggressive treatment of the impotent diabetic will become a reality.