Early history of venogenic impotence.

As early as 1860, innovative research defined the neural and vascular phenomena which generate male sexual tumescence. Sophisticated animal experiments provided important data about enhanced arterial inflow and occlusion of venous outflow which cause and maintain erection of the penis. On the basis of these observations, various treatment strategies for impotence, like sclerotherapy or surgical ligation to improve penile venous occlusion, have been attempted since 1873. In this historical review, I assert that contemporary theories of the role of penile venous occlusion during tumescence reiterate ideas proposed more than a century ago.