Fracture of the Penis, Part 3

Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
by George M. Gould, M.D., Walter L. Pyle, M.D.

(Page 21 of 30)

Moore reports a case in a man of forty who had been married fifteen years, and who suffered spasmodic contractions of the muscles of the penis after an incomplete coitus. This pseudopriapism continued for twenty-three days, during which time he had unsuccessfully resorted to the application of cold, bleeding, and other treatment; but on the twenty-sixth day, after the use of bladders filled with cold water, there was a discharge from the urethra of a glairy mucus, similar in nature to that in seminal debility. There was then complete relaxation of the organ. During all this time the man slept very little, only occasionally dozing. Donne describes an athletic laborer of twenty-five who received a wound from a rifle-ball penetrating the cranial parietes immediately in the posterior superior angle of the parietal bone, and a few lines from the lambdoid suture. The ball did not make egress, but passed posteriorly downward. Reaction was established on the third day, but the inflammatory symptoms influenced the genitalia.

Priapism began on the fifth day, at which time the patient became affected with a salacious appetite, and was rational upon every subject except that pertaining to venery. He grew worse on the sixth day, and his medical adviser was obliged to prohibit a female attendant. Priapism continued, but the man went into a soporose condition, with occasional intervals of satyriasis. In this condition he survived nine days; there was not the slightest abatement of the priapism until a few moments before his death. Tripe relates the history of a seaman of twenty-five, in perfect health, who, arriving from Calcutta on April 12, 1884, lodged with a female until the 26th. At this time he experienced an unusually fierce desire, with intense erection of the penis which, with pain, lasted throughout the night. Though coitus was frequently resorted to, these symptoms continued. He sought aid at the London Hospital, but the priapism was persistent, and when he left, on May 10th, the penis formed an acute angle with the pubes, and he again had free intercourse with the same female. At the time of leaving England the penis made an angle of about 45 degrees with the pubes, and this condition, he affirmed, lasted three months. On his return to England his penis was flaccid, and his symptoms had disappeared.

Salzer presents an interesting paper on priapism which was quoted in The Practitioner of London. Salzer describes one patient of forty-six who awoke one morning with a strong erection that could not be reduced by any means. Urine was voided by jerks and with difficulty, and only when the subject was placed in the knee and elbow position. Despite all treatment this condition continued for seven weeks. At this time the patient's spleen was noticed to be enormously enlarged. The man died about a year after the attack, but a necropsy was unfortunately refused. Salzer, in discussing the theories of priapism, mentions eight cases previously reported, and concludes, that such cases are attributable to leukemia. Kremine believes that continued priapism is produced by effusion of blood into the corpora cavernosa, which is impeded on its return. He thinks it corresponds to bleeding at the nose and rectum, which often occurs in perfectly healthy persons. Longuet regards the condition of the blood in leukemia as the cause of such priapism, and considers that the circulation of the blood is retarded in the smaller vessels, while, owing to the great increase in the number of white corpuscles, thrombi are formed. Neidhart and Matthias conclude that the origin of this condition might be sought for in the disturbance of the nerve-centers. After reviewing all these theories, Salzer states that in his case the patient was previously healthy and never had suffered the slightest hemorrhage in any part, and he therefore rejects the theory of extravasation. He is inclined to suppose that the priapism was due to the stimulation of the nervi erigentes, brought about either by anatomic change in the nerves themselves, or by pressure upon them by enlarged lumbar glands, an associate condition of leukemia.

Burchard reports a most interesting case of prolonged priapism in an English gentleman of fifty-three. When he was called to see the man on July 15th he found him suffering with intense pain in the penis, and in a state of extreme exhaustion after an erection which had lasted five hours uninterruptedly, during the whole of which time the organ was in a state of violent and continuous spasm. The paroxysm was controlled by 3/4 grain morphin and 1/50 grain atropin. Five hours later, after a troubled sleep, there was another erection, which was again relieved by hypodermic medication. During the day he had two other paroxysms, one lasting forty-five minutes; and another, three hours later, lasting eighteen minutes. Both these were controlled by morphin. There was no loss of semen, but after the paroxysms a small quantity of glairy mucus escaped from the meatus. The rigidity was remarkable, simulating the spasms of tetanus.

No language could adequately describe the suffering of the patient. Burchard elicited the history that the man had suffered from nocturnal emissions and erotic dreams of the most lascivious nature, sometimes having three in one night. During the day he would have eight or ten erections, unaccompanied by any voluptuous emotions. In these there would rarely be any emission, but occasionally a small mucous discharge. This state of affairs had continued three years up to the time Burchard saw him, and, chagrined by pain and his malady, the patient had become despondent. After a course of careful treatment, in which diet, sponging, application of ice-bags, and ergot were features, this unfortunate man recovered.

Bruce mentions the case of an Irishman of fifty-five who, without apparent cause, was affected with a painful priapism which lasted six weeks, and did not subside even under chloroform. Booth mentions a case of priapism in a married seaman of fifty-five, due to local inflammation about the muscles, constricting the bulb of the penis. The affection lasted five weeks, and was extremely painful. There was a similar case of priapism which lasted for three weeks, and was associated with hydrocele in a man of forty-eight.

Injuries of the testicle and scrotum may be productive of most serious issue. It is a well-known surgical fact that a major degree of shock accompanies a contusion of this portion of the body. In fact, Chevers states that the sensitiveness of the testicles is so well known in India, that there are cases on record in which premeditated murder has been effected by Cossiah women, by violently squeezing the testicles of their husbands. He also mentions another case in which, in frustrating an attempt at rape, death was caused in a similar manner. Stalkartt describes the case of a young man who, after drinking to excess with his paramour, was either unable, or indifferent in gratifying her sexual desire. The woman became so enraged that she seized the scrotum and wrenched it from its attachments, exposing the testicles. The left testicle was completely denuded, and was hanging by the vas deferens and the spermatic vessels. There was little hemorrhage, and the wound was healed by granulation.