ABSTRACT
A 30-year-old man developed priapism after starting androstenedione (1 pill daily) one week earlier. He did not seek medical attention until the episode had lasted for 30 hrs. There were no concurrent medications but a medication history revealed a previous episode one year earlier (duration: two to three hours) while taking the same supplement. Therapy included corpora cavernosa aspiration, normal saline irrigation and intracavernous injection with phenylephrine. Alternate etiologies were excluded. The authors suggested that androstenedione, a precursor of testosterone, increased serum testosterone levels in this patient, and possibly resulted in a hypersensitivity to erectile blood flow and an increased risk of priapism.
