Registration of Electrical activity in the corpus cavernosum is a possible method for the evaluation of cavernous autonomic innervation. Recent studies in normal men showed that electrical activity is synchronous throughout the cavernous bodies.
We
examined the electrical activity using the recently developed technique of single potential analysis of cavernous electrical activity (SPACE) with a 2-channel EMG amplifier and surface electrode in 39 normal men. The potentials were processed
with
the
cut-off frequencies at 0.3-32 Hz, a paper speed of 0.5cm/sec, and a range of amplitude of 0.5mV. In 35 men, similar potentials of uniform shape were recorded during flaccidity. The frequency was 0.85±0.52 potnetials/min, the amplitude was
193.4±99.19mV, the complex duration was 7.00±1.69 sec, and the polyphasicity was 4.88±1.30. With increasing tumescence and rigidity during audiovisual sexual stimulation, high-frequency potentials of low amplitude or electrical silence was
found. We
suggest that SPACE study during flaccidity may be a useful noninvasive and reproducibile method for evaluating autonomic cavernous innervation.
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