Perineal ̄oor ef®ciency in sexually potent and impotent men

Given the knowledge that the ischiocavernous and bulbocavernous muscles are involved in the erection of the penis, we studied the voluntary contractile activity of the perineal ̄oor muscles in sexually potent and impotent men to investigate whether or not a different muscular ef®ciency can be found in these subjects. The activity of perineal ̄oor muscles was studied in 76 sexually potent men and in 97 impotent men matched by age. A further group of 217 older impotent men was also studied to verify the impact of age on the ef®ciency of perineal ̄oor contraction. The average myoelectrical activity of 24 maximized contractions of the perineum was measured in mV by anal plug electromyography. Perineal ̄oor muscle contraction was signi®cantly higher (Pˆ 0.0007) in potent than in impotent men matched by age. In addition, in older impotent men the less perineal ̄oor ef®ciency was also negatively correlated to age (rˆ 70.21, Pˆ 0.002). Our results clearly demonstrated that a reduction of contractile activity of perineal muscles may be related to erectile dysfunction in younger men and an additional in ̄uence of age on perineal ̄oor ef®ciency can be present in older impotent men.