The combined use of brachial artery flow mediated dilatation and carotid artery intima-media thickness measurements: an altervative method to penile doppler ultrasonography

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between penilecolor Doppler sonography (CDS) findings and sonographic endothelial parameters inpatients with erectile dysfunction (ED).Materials and Methods: Fifty-six ED patients were included in the study. PenileCDS, intima-media thickness (IMT) of common carotid arteries (CCA) and flowmediated vasodilatation (FMD) of brachial artery were performed in all patients.Results: According to penile CDS findings, 27 (48%) patients had non-vasculogenicand 29 (52%) patients had vasculogenic ED. Among 29 patients, 17 (30%) patientshad cavernous venoocclusive insufficiency (CVOD) and 12 (22%) patients hadarterial insufficiency (AI). Mean FMD values of non-vasculogenic ED, CVOD and AIwere, 14.50(±5.78), 11.48(±5.59) and 6.81(±6.55), respectively. FMD was found tobe impaired significantly in AI group when compared to the other groups. FMD valuesof CVOD group were lower when compared to non-vasculogenic group but thedifference was not statistically significant. IMT values of vasculogenic ED patientswere higher than non-vasculogenic ED patients (p<0.05). Although IMT values werehigher in AI group when compared to CVOD, the difference was not statisticallysignificant. The combined use of IMT and FMD established the diagnosis ofvasculogenic ED with 100% sensitivity and 59.2% specificity. The positive predictivevalue was 72%, negative predictive value was 100% and accuracy was 80%.Conclusion: The combined use of brachial artery FMD and carotid arteries IMTmeasurements may be suggested as an alternative method to evaluate vasculogenicED.