The patient: A 21-year-old man in Iran
The symptoms: The patient reported that his penis had been “partially rigid” for three months.
What happened next: Upon examining the man, doctors noted that he had a tattoo along the top of the penile shaft, as well as another tattoo on the glans, or tip of the penis. The man initially told the doctors he’d gotten the tattoos several years prior, but he later said he’d gotten them just before his symptoms emerged.
The tattooist had used a handheld needle, the patient said, which is a common traditional tattooing technique. Afterward, the patient experienced bleeding and pain for a number of days. After the pain subsided, the man experienced “longer-than-usual sleep-related erections,” which worsened to the point that his penis was “half-rigid” all the time.
His doctors further investigated his medical history and ran many lab tests, including brain scans to look for abnormalities and blood tests to rule out infections. Using sound waves to assess blood flow in the penis, the doctors saw “pseudoaneurysms” in the tattooed area, meaning there were places where the arteries had been injured, causing blood to pool.
The diagnosis: The man was diagnosed with “nonischemic priapism.” Priapism refers to prolonged erections that occur in the absence of sexual stimulation, or that continue long after sexual stimulation has ceased.
The most common form of priapism — ischemic priapism — occurs when a blockage prevents deoxygenated blood from exiting the penis, or when certain drugs prevent that blood flow. This can quickly lead to tissue damage, permanent scarring and impotence.
In nonischemic priapism, though, blood flow is not blocked, so there’s less pain and a low risk of permanent damage. This condition, also called “high-flow priapism,” typically occurs when an artery in the erectile tissue is injured and allows too much blood to be continuously pumped into the penis.
The treatment: The appropriate treatment wasn’t available at the facility where the patient was examined, so he was referred to another facility for a superselective embolization, a procedure that would have blocked blood flow through the injured arteries to reduce blood flow in the penis. However, he instead underwent a “nonindicated” procedure that didn’t make sense given the features of his case. (In a report of the case, the man’s doctors didn’t note where or why he got this…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Latest from Live Science…