The impact of diabetes mellitus on penile length in men undergoing inflatable penile prosthesis implantation

Objective: To evaluate the changing cavernosal length of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and organic erectile dysfunction (ED) who were treated with inflatable, three-piece penile prostheses, a current surgical treatment option in our clinic, over the course of 12 years. Materials and methods: Between April 2000 and December 2012, we retrospectively investigated data from patients who were diagnosed with organic ED and undergone penile prosthesis implantation (PPI). Of the 239 patients, 235 of them were included in the study. Four patients who were operated on for trans sexuality were excluded from the study. All patients were divided into two groups as those with (Group 1) or without DM (Group 2). Data, including age, body mass index (BMI) in kg/m(2), surgical history, comorbidities, International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire scores, combined intracavernous injection and stimulation (CIS) test results, length of corpus cavernosum while implanting the penile prosthesis, complications, operative times, mean hospital stay, and satisfaction of the patient and partner, were recorded. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for statistical analysis. A p-value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically signifcant. Results: The mean age was 57.9 10.5 years. Study population consisted of patients with DM (n=65), hypertension (n=21), DM, and hypertension (n=28), hyperlipidemia (n=5), a history of previous radical pelvic surgery with (n=4) or without DM (n=51) or cases without any comorbidity (n=62). Mean length of the corpus cavernosum was 17.277 0.1509 cm in Group 1 and 17289 0.1598 cm in Group 2 (p<0.05). Additionally, the other parameters, including age, operative time, and the satisfaction of the patient and partner, were not different between these groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: The length of the corpus cavernosum and the destruction of cavernosal tissues do not depend only on DM. We conclude that these features may have multifactorial causes.