Evaluation of Arterial Erectile Dysfunction Using Shear Wave Elastography: A Feasibility Study.

To explore the feasibility of shear wave elastography (SWE) in the evaluation of arterial erectile dysfunction (ED). From November 2018 to November 2019, 26 patients with arterial ED and 30 patients with non-vascular ED were prospectively included. SWE values of corpus cavernosum penis (CCP) and the flow velocity of cavernous artery for all patients in both before intracavernous injection (ICI) (flaccid state) and after ICI (erectile state) were measured. Performance of SWE value in assessing arterial ED was studied. Correlation between SWE value of CCP and the age of patients was also investigated. ICI significantly reduced SWE values in both arterial and non-vascular group (from 19.57 ± 6.33 KPa to 12.17 ± 3.64 KPa in the first, and from 19.91 ± 6.69 KPa to 8.04 ± 3.13 KPa in the former, both P < .001). SWE values of CCP after ICI in arterial ED were significantly larger than that in non-vascular ED (P < .001). SWE values of CCP before ICI negatively correlated with age of patients in arterial ED (r = - 0.601, P < .001). With a cutoff value of 7.75 KPa, the area under curve, specificity, sensitivity, PPV, and NPV of SWE values of CCP after ICI in distinguishing arterial ED from non-vascular ED were 0.810, 63.3%, 96.2%, 96.2%, and 70%, respectively. SWE was expected to be a potential technique for the noninvasive, simply operated, repeatable and quantitative evaluation of arterial ED.

Zhou W ，Zhang Y ，Li L ，Gao J ，Zheng H ，Huang M ，Zhao S ，Xie X ，Zhang C ，Zhang X ... -  《-》

The role of shear wave elastography on evaluation of the rigidity changes of corpus cavernosum penis in venogenic erectile dysfunction.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of shear wave elastography (SWE) on the measurement of rigidity changes of penile erection in venogenic erectile dysfunction (ED) and in rigidity alterations of corpus cavernosum penis with age in normal population. The study was a prospective analysis of 81 patients referred to the department of urology with complaints of ED as well as 35 healthy volunteers. SWE was performed on the corpus cavernosum penis (CCP) in the flaccid state of healthy group. The patients were divided into venogenic ED (31 patients) and non-vascular ED (neither arterial insufficiency nor venogenic dysfunction) (36 patients) by performing color doppler ultrasonography in association with intracavernous injection (ICI). SWE measurements were performed in CCP in the flaccid state, after 15-20 min and 25-30 min of ICI in both patients groups. Differences between groups were compared. Age was significantly negatively associated with SWE values of CCP among three groups (healthy group: r = -0.584, p < 0.05; venogenic ED group: r = -0.468, p < 0.05; non-vascular ED group: r = -0.539, p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the SWE values of three groups in the flaccid state (p > 0.05). The mean SWE values of CCP were significantly lower in the erectile state (15-20 min after ICI) compared with the flaccid state in two patients groups (p < 0.05). The mean SWE values of CCP after ICI increased with time (from 15-20 min to 25-30 min) in patients with venogenic ED (p < 0.05), while the SWE values of CCP after ICI did not statistically significantly differ with time in patients with non-vascular ED (p > 0.05). SWE is expected to be a promising approach in terms of the etiological diagnosis of ED and the quantitative evaluation of alternations of penile structures with age.

Cui A ，Xu L ，Mu J ，Tong M ，Peng C ，Wu T ... -  《-》

The value of shear wave elastography combined with red blood cell distribution width in evaluating arterial erectile dysfunction.

Wang Q ，Guo Y ，Zhang H ，Qin X ，Zhang C ，Zhou W ... -  《BMC Urology》

A Novel Method to Quantify Penile Arterial Blood Supply Using Shear Wave Elastography During Penile Duplex Ultrasound in Men with Erectile Dysfunction.

Zhang J ，Zhou W ，Zhang Y ，Zhang W ，Zhang C ... -  《MEDICAL SCIENCE MONITOR》

Role of shear wave elastography measured in the flaccid state in predicting arteriogenic erectile dysfunction.

The gold-standard method for diagnosing arteriogenic erectile dysfunction (AED) is the penile Doppler ultrasonography. We proposed a novel method for predicting AED using ultrasonic shear wave elastography (SWE) considering that the former was invasive and variable. A total of 98 male patients were enrolled in our study, referred for ED between December 2018 and October 2020. For comparison, we also included 42 volunteers from the Healthy Physical Examination Center of our hospital. The Penile Doppler Ultrasonography (PDU) and SWE were performed for all patients with the intracavernosal injection (ICI). We named three groups as AED group, nonvascular ED group and healthy controls group. No statistically significant differences were found among the three groups in terms of demographic and clinical characteristics. There were no significant differences in IIEF-5 between AED and nonvascular ED. A significant (r = 0.642, p < 0.0001) positive correlation between flaccid and erectile SWE was observed. With a cut-off value of 13.45 KPa, the area under curve, specificity, and sensitivity of the SWE values under the flaccid state in distinguishing AED from healthy subjects were 0.867, 0.786 and 0.896 respectively. The SWE value in the flaccid state can distinguish the AED from healthy subjects.

Zhang Y ，Zhou W ，Wu X ，Zhao S ，Zhang X ... -  《-》