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Supra and infralevator neurovascular pathways to the penile corpora cavernosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 1999

G. BENOIT
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Chirurgie Expérimentale, Faculté de Médecine Paris Sud, CHU de Bicêtre, Bicêtre, France Laboratoire d'Anatomie UER Biomédicale des Saints Pères, Paris, France Service d'Urologie et Laboratoire d'Anatomie Pathologique, CHU de Bicêtre, Bicêtre, France
S. DROUPY
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Chirurgie Expérimentale, Faculté de Médecine Paris Sud, CHU de Bicêtre, Bicêtre, France Laboratoire d'Anatomie UER Biomédicale des Saints Pères, Paris, France Service d'Urologie et Laboratoire d'Anatomie Pathologique, CHU de Bicêtre, Bicêtre, France
J. QUILLARD
Affiliation:
Service d'Urologie et Laboratoire d'Anatomie Pathologique, CHU de Bicêtre, Bicêtre, France
V. PARADIS
Affiliation:
Service d'Urologie et Laboratoire d'Anatomie Pathologique, CHU de Bicêtre, Bicêtre, France
F. GIULIANO
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Chirurgie Expérimentale, Faculté de Médecine Paris Sud, CHU de Bicêtre, Bicêtre, France Service d'Urologie et Laboratoire d'Anatomie Pathologique, CHU de Bicêtre, Bicêtre, France
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Abstract

The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive description of both penile innervation and vascularisation. Eighty-five male cadavers were examined through gross and microscopic anatomical analysis. The pelvic nerve plexus had both parasympathetic and sympathetic roots. It was distributed to the external urethral sphincter giving rise to cavernous nerves which anastomosed in 70% of the cases with the pudendal nerve in the penile root. Accessory pudendal arteries were present in the pelvis in 70% of the cases, anastomosing in 70% of the cases with the cavernous arteries that originated from the pudendal arteries. Transalbugineal anastomoses were always seen between the cavernous artery and the spongiosal arterial network. There were 2 venous pathways, 1 in the pelvis and 1 in the perineum with a common origin from the deep dorsal penile vein. It is concluded that there are 2 neurovascular pathways destined for the penis that are topographically distinct. One is located in the pelvis and the other in the perineum. We were unable to determine the functional balance between these 2 anastomosing pathways but experimental data have shown that they are both involved in penile erection. These 2 neurovascular pathways, above and below the levator ani, together with their anastomoses, form a neurovascular loop around the levator ani.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1999

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