¹Department of Radiology, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH, USA

Correspondence: Dr J Haaga, Department of Radiology, University Hospitals of Cleveland, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA. E-mail: Haaga@UHRAD.com

Received 28 October 2005; Revised 8 March 2006; Accepted 6 April 2006; Published online 25 May 2006.

Abstract

The physiologic variability of blood flow to the prostate has not been studied until this time. We report the vasoactive effects of sildenafil and phenylephrine on blood flow of the normal prostate. Sildenafil increases prostate blood flow by approximately 75% and phenylephrine reduces the flow incrementally. Administration of these drugs with dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging may improve the diagnosis of cancerous tissue because according to the literature, tumor angiogenic vessels lack the vasoactive physiologic response of the normal tissue.