[The neurological status in patients with erectile dysfunction: somatosensory evoked potentials and the bulbocavernosus reflex].

OBJECTIVES: The present study investigated the somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) from the dorsal penile nerve and the bulbocavernosus reflex (BCR) in healthy volunteers and patients with erectile dysfunction in order to establish a model of normality and investigate the abnormal neuro-urophysiological measurements in patients with erectile dysfunction and their relationship with different factors (age, neurological disease). METHODS: 30 healthy volunteers and 102 patients who had consulted for erectile dysfunction underwent neuro-urophysiological diagnostic evaluation (dorsal penile nerve SSEP and BCR). The mean age was 51.2 years (range 27 to 66). RESULTS: The group of healthy volunteers showed SSEP mean latency of 46.374 ms and a BCR mean latency of 43.721 ms. Thirty-four patients (33.33%) had at least one abnormal neuro-urophysiological measurement, the SSEP were abnormal in 7 (20.58%), the BCR in 5 (14.70%) and both in 22 (64.70%). We found an increased SSEP latency and BCR latency in the patients with erectile dysfunction and with no urological disease. Comparison of the older with the younger patients was only statistically significant for increased BCR latency in patients > 60 years old. CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed neuro-urophysiological abnormalities in 34 impotent patients (33.33%). The finding of abnormalities in both BCR and SSEP was the most frequent.