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The Effect of Spinal Anaesthesia on Penile Tumescence

Received: 19 June 2018     Accepted: 3 July 2018     Published: 30 July 2018
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Abstract

It is a common observation that following spinal anaesthesia, the penis usually elongates. The aim of this study was to determine the degree of change in penile length following spinal anaesthesia. Consecutive urosurgical patients undergoing spinal anaesthesia were recruited for this study. Those who received general anaesthesia or incomplete spinal blocked were also excluded. The flaccid length of the penis was measured before and after the administration of spinal anaesthesia. Penile length 15 minutes post-spinal anaesthesia was measured and recorded. The change in length was tested for statistical significant difference, the age of patient; diagnosis and type of surgery were also recorded. Forty three patients completed the study. Benign prostatic hypertrophy constituted 41.9% of the surgical indications. While 53.5% of the patients were ASA I, 39.5% and 7.0% of them were ASA II and III respectively. While the mean initial penile length was 12.1 ± 0.53 cm and the mean final length was 15.7 ± 0.53 cm, the mean maximal change in penile length was 3.6±1.5 cm; p<0.0001. There was no statistical correlation between age and mean differential change in length of penis (r= -0.2842, p=0.43). It was therefore concluded that there was a significant change in penile length (tumescence) following successful spinal anaesthesia.

Published in Journal of Anesthesiology (Volume 6, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ja.20180601.17
Page(s) 40-44
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2018. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Spinal Anaesthesia, Flaccid, Penile Length, Tumescence, Urologic Surgery

References
[1] Van Arsdalen KN, Chen JW, Smith MJ. Penile erections complicating transurethral surgery. J Urol 1983; 12: 374–376.
[2] Nates WA. Penile erection complicating transurethral surgery. SAJAA 2007; 13:2, 53, DOI: 10. 1080/22201173. 2007. 10872478.
[3] Breen TW, Shapiro T, Glass B, Foster‐Payne D, Oriel NE. Epidural anaesthesia for labor in an ambulatory patient. Anesth Analg 1993; 77: 919–924.
[4] Shah J, Christopher N. Can shoe size predict penile length? BJU Int 2002; 90: 586--587.
[5] Spyropoulos E, Borousas D, Mavrikos S, Dellis A, Bourounis M, Athanasiadis S. Size of external genital organs and somatometric parameters among physically normal men younger than 40 years old. Urology 2002; 60: 485—489.
[6] Lue TF, Zeineh SJ, Schmidt RA, Tanagho EA. Neuroanatomy of penile erection: its relevance to iatrogenic impotence. J Urol 1984; 131: 273-280.
[7] Shantha TR. Intraoperative management of penile erection by using terbutaline. Anesthesiology 1989; 70: 707-709.
[8] Robert SW, Jay BB. Treatment of intraoperative penile tumescence. J Urol 1980; 124: 925.
[9] Baltogiannis DM, Charalabopoulos AK, Giannakopoulos XK, Giannakis DJ, Sofikitis NV, Charalabopoulos KA. Penile erection during transurethral surgery. J Androl 2006; 27: 376-380.
[10] Rao TH, Zaman W, Jain RK. Intraoperative penile erection. Arch Esp Urol. 2000; 53: 953-956.
[11] Walther PJ, Meyer AF, Woodworth BE. Intraoperative management of penile erection with intracorporeal phenylephrine during endoscopic surgery. J Urol 1987; 137: 738-739.
[12] De Meyer JM, De Sy WA. Intracavernous injection of noradrenaline to interrupt erections during surgical interventions. Eur Urol 1986; 12: 169-170.
[13] Seftel AD, Resnick MI, Boswell MV. Dorsal nerve block for the management of intraoperative penile erection. J Urol 1994 151: 394-395.
[14] Valley MA, Sang CN. Use of glycopyrrolate to treat intraoperative penile erection: case report and review of the literature. Reg Anaesth 1994; 19: 423-428.
[15] Fyneface-Ogan S, Eke N. Intraoperative blood loss during retropubic Prostatectomy: a comparison of regional and general anaesthesia. J Coll Med 2004; 9: 8-11.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Sotonye Fyneface-Ogan, Ngozi Onyeanunam Ekeke. (2018). The Effect of Spinal Anaesthesia on Penile Tumescence. International Journal of Anesthesia and Clinical Medicine, 6(1), 40-44. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ja.20180601.17

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    ACS Style

    Sotonye Fyneface-Ogan; Ngozi Onyeanunam Ekeke. The Effect of Spinal Anaesthesia on Penile Tumescence. Int. J. Anesth. Clin. Med. 2018, 6(1), 40-44. doi: 10.11648/j.ja.20180601.17

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    AMA Style

    Sotonye Fyneface-Ogan, Ngozi Onyeanunam Ekeke. The Effect of Spinal Anaesthesia on Penile Tumescence. Int J Anesth Clin Med. 2018;6(1):40-44. doi: 10.11648/j.ja.20180601.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ja.20180601.17,
      author = {Sotonye Fyneface-Ogan and Ngozi Onyeanunam Ekeke},
      title = {The Effect of Spinal Anaesthesia on Penile Tumescence},
      journal = {International Journal of Anesthesia and Clinical Medicine},
      volume = {6},
      number = {1},
      pages = {40-44},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ja.20180601.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ja.20180601.17},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ja.20180601.17},
      abstract = {It is a common observation that following spinal anaesthesia, the penis usually elongates. The aim of this study was to determine the degree of change in penile length following spinal anaesthesia. Consecutive urosurgical patients undergoing spinal anaesthesia were recruited for this study. Those who received general anaesthesia or incomplete spinal blocked were also excluded. The flaccid length of the penis was measured before and after the administration of spinal anaesthesia. Penile length 15 minutes post-spinal anaesthesia was measured and recorded. The change in length was tested for statistical significant difference, the age of patient; diagnosis and type of surgery were also recorded. Forty three patients completed the study. Benign prostatic hypertrophy constituted 41.9% of the surgical indications. While 53.5% of the patients were ASA I, 39.5% and 7.0% of them were ASA II and III respectively. While the mean initial penile length was 12.1 ± 0.53 cm and the mean final length was 15.7 ± 0.53 cm, the mean maximal change in penile length was 3.6±1.5 cm; p<0.0001. There was no statistical correlation between age and mean differential change in length of penis (r= -0.2842, p=0.43). It was therefore concluded that there was a significant change in penile length (tumescence) following successful spinal anaesthesia.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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    AU  - Sotonye Fyneface-Ogan
    AU  - Ngozi Onyeanunam Ekeke
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ja.20180601.17
    T2  - International Journal of Anesthesia and Clinical Medicine
    JF  - International Journal of Anesthesia and Clinical Medicine
    JO  - International Journal of Anesthesia and Clinical Medicine
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
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    AB  - It is a common observation that following spinal anaesthesia, the penis usually elongates. The aim of this study was to determine the degree of change in penile length following spinal anaesthesia. Consecutive urosurgical patients undergoing spinal anaesthesia were recruited for this study. Those who received general anaesthesia or incomplete spinal blocked were also excluded. The flaccid length of the penis was measured before and after the administration of spinal anaesthesia. Penile length 15 minutes post-spinal anaesthesia was measured and recorded. The change in length was tested for statistical significant difference, the age of patient; diagnosis and type of surgery were also recorded. Forty three patients completed the study. Benign prostatic hypertrophy constituted 41.9% of the surgical indications. While 53.5% of the patients were ASA I, 39.5% and 7.0% of them were ASA II and III respectively. While the mean initial penile length was 12.1 ± 0.53 cm and the mean final length was 15.7 ± 0.53 cm, the mean maximal change in penile length was 3.6±1.5 cm; p<0.0001. There was no statistical correlation between age and mean differential change in length of penis (r= -0.2842, p=0.43). It was therefore concluded that there was a significant change in penile length (tumescence) following successful spinal anaesthesia.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Anaesthesia, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

  • Department of Surgery, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

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