Am J Psychiatry 1978; 135:191-197
Copyright © 1978 by American Psychiatric Association
Nocturnal penile tumescence and diagnosis in diabetic impotence
I Karacan, PJ Salis, JC Ware, B Dervent, RL Williams, FB Scott, SL Attia and LE Beutler
The authors conducted a study of nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) in 35
diabetic men, aged 33 to 70, who complained of impotence and in 35
age-matched control subjects. EEGs and other measurements showed that the
diabetic men as a group exhibited significant reductions in the total
amount of NPT and in the amount and frequency of full erection, thus
suggesting that impotence in this cohort was organogenic. Although NPT
monitoring represents an advance over the less precise traditional
procedures for the differential diagnosis of impotence, the authors stress
the need for more research in this area.
