Spontaneous erections in a patient with erectile dysfunction after palliative chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer.

ABSTRACT

Erectile dysfunction is a common problem, especially among older men. It is often caused by psychological problems, and is also the reason for pronounced impairment of psychosocial well-being. Many systemic diseases, genitourinary surgery, drugs, particularly antihypertensive and psychotropic drugs, and also chemotherapeutic agents and dexamethasone are attributed as being causes of erectile dysfunction. In our case, severe erectile dysfunction was present for 8 months before non-small cell lung cancer was diagnosed. Normal sexual function, observed for a short period immediately following chemotherapy, is a highly unusual finding and has not been published before. Chemotherapeutic agents have repeatedly been shown to result in cessation of sexual function including erection. While we cannot offer a definite explanation for our findings, undefined paraneoplastic processes leading to erectile dysfunction amenable to successful cytotoxic intervention could be a possible explanation for our observation.