Dr. Marc Pritzker says, "Erectile dysfunction could be called a 'penile stress test' and may be another way of detecting diseased blood vessels in much the same way that the exercise stress test, which measures electrical signals from the heart, is used to detect diseased blood vessels of the heart." Pritzker says atherosclerosis detected in one set of blood vessels increases the chances of having this form of blood vessel disease in other areas of the body.
Because the blood vessels that supply the penis are narrower than arteries in other areas of the body, atherosclerosis may show itself as erectile dysfunction before the disease becomes apparent elsewhere. Pritzker says a review of medical records of 50 men with erectile dysfunction who had sought prescriptions for Viagra found that while none had symptoms of heart disease, 40 percent were found to have significant blockages in heart arteries.
The study does not suggest that all impotence is related to heart disease, Pritzker says, but a man having regular sexual activity who experiences a consistent change in erectile function may be showing signs of atherosclerosis. Pritzker adds anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of cases of erectile dysfunction are the result of blood vessel disease.
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