ORIGINAL ARTICLE Corpus cavernosum electromyography: could it be a parameter to predict ageing? M. Aldemir, K. Ag ˘ ras, K. Ener, D. Dehni & O ¨ . Kayıgil Department of Second Urology, Ankara Ataturk Teaching and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey Introduction Penile erection and detumescence are the results of cavernous smooth muscle contraction and relaxation respectively (Meuleman & Diemont, 1995; Mills et al., 1998; Wagner & Saenz de Tejada, 1998; Melman & Gingell, 1999; Lue, 2000). During an erection, the sinusoids of cor- pus cavernosum (CC) become filled with arterial blood. This relaxation in the smooth muscle of CC plays a key role in the mechanism of erection. This neurovascular event occurs as a result of complex vascular and neurological interactions and presents as an erectile response in men (Giuliano & Rampin, 2000; Nehra & Moreland, 2001; Blue- stein et al., 2002). Electrical activity of the cavernous mus- cle has been first recorded by Wagner et al. (1989) using CC-EMG. Later, other investigators have performed studies on this issue (Stief et al., 1994; Machtens et al., 1997; Kellner et al., 2000; Shafik et al., 2004a,b). Autonomic stimulation of the penile cavernous smooth muscle with electromyography gives information regarding penile function. This method has been adopted into clinical appli- cation for the diagnostic evaluation of erectile dysfunction (ED) (Stief et al., 1994; Machtens et al., 1997; Kellner et al., 2000; Shafik et al., 2004a,b). Penis and thus individuals’ sexual life are sometimes affected adversely due to neuro- logical and pathological reasons. An association has been reported between ageing and ED in the literature, suggesting that the percentage of potent men decreases from 60% to 33% between 40 and 70 years of age (Diokno et al., 1990; Feldman et al., 2000; Kinsey et al., 2003). Percentage of smooth muscle cells has been evaluated in male subjects with normal erections including men <40 years of age, between 41 and 60 years and >60 years of age. It was demonstrated that smooth muscle content decreases with ageing which might possibly be responsible for the decline in erection in older men (Wespes et al., 1998). Ageing was suggested to affect the structural and functional properties of the arterial wall which might cause vascular dysfunctions (Erdogru et al., 2001). Keywords Ageing—corpus cavernosum— electromyography—erectile dysfunction Correspondence Mustafa Aldemir, MD, Aydınlıkevler Mahallesi Arılık Sokak No: 5/5, 06130 Ankara, Turkey. Tel.: +90 533 6309102; Fax: +90 312 2912705; E-mail: drmaldemir@mynet.com Accepted: August 20, 2009 Summary In this study, we investigated whether electromyography of corpus cavernosum (CC-EMG) results vary with age and whether CC-EMG could be a parameter to predict ageing of cavernous smooth muscle. Recordings of electrical activity of corpus cavernosum (EACC) were retrospectively investigated in 134 patients with erectile dysfunction. Penile colour Doppler ultrasonography and caver- nosometry were also performed for all of the patients. The total number and duration of EACC and amplitudes between positive and negative peaks were compared between the flask state for 10 min and after intracavernosal papa- verine injection. The mean age of the 47 patients in group 1 was 35.2 ± 6.3 years (range, 23–44), the mean age of the 45 patients in group 2 was 51.1 ± 3.1 years (range, 45–56) and the mean age of the 42 patients in group 3 was 61.8 ± 4.6 years (range, 57–77). Total IIEF-5 score was 7.6 ± 2.1 in group 1, 7.9 ± 2.4 in group 2 and 7.9 ± 2.1 in group 3. There were no statistically significant differences among the groups regarding electrical potential frequen- cies, durations and amplitudes of electromyographic recordings. Conclusion: We do not think that CC-EMG findings could be used efficiently as a predictor of ageing. ª 2010 Blackwell Verlag GmbH Æ Andrologia 42, 343–348 343