There are many health complications that can arise if someone becomes ill from COVID-19: pneumonia , acute respiratory distress syndrome, but also heart problems, to name but a few. There can also be «thromboembolic» complications that occur when a clot forms and blocks the flow of blood to another vessel. One such complication is priapism: prolonged erection of the penis.
This symptom was recently observed in a 69-year-old man with severe coma coronavirus, in Ohio. Doctors documented their experience of the man's illness in a report published in American Journal of Emergency Medicine. The exhibition was entitled: «What is priapism? Why a nine-day erection sent a man to the hospital»
According to the report, the man went to the hospital emergency room after a week of worsening respiratory symptoms, including coughing and difficulty breathing, worsened. Doctors tested him for coronavirus and the test came back positive. While in the hospital, the man's respiratory function deteriorated and he was intubated. The next day a nurse noticed that the man had an erection. The care team put ice packs on the area, but the erection would not go away and in fact lasted for more than three hours!
The doctors found that the prolonged erection was due to ischaemic priapism. According to the clinic Mayo, ischaemic priapism (also called low-flow priapism) occurs when blood cannot leave the penis. In this case, priapism is thought to be due to blockage of the drainage of the veins, which are very small blood vessels. People with ischaemic priapism usually have an erection that lasts more than four hours and that is not related to sexual interest or arousal.
Another symptom of ischaemic priapism is the progressive pain in the penis. Usually, clinicians can ask patients about their pain level to determine whether they have ischemic priapism or another type of priapism, known as non-ischemic or high-flow priapism. This occurs when blood flow to the penis is not regulated properly; it usually hurts less than ischemic priapism. However, since the patient was sedated, doctors could not measure the level of pain he would have felt if he were conscious. After testing, they ruled it was ischemic priapism.
The doctors who wrote the report consider priapism to be a «clinical emergency» because of the potential side effects. The Mayo Clinic described how serious complications can arise: «The blood trapped in the penis is deprived of oxygen. When the erection lasts for a long time, this oxygen-poor blood can start to damage the tissues in the penis. As a result, priapism that is not treated can cause erectile dysfunction.»
In this man's case, the blood was drained from his penis. And with the help of the drug injected into the base of his penis, his erection subsided after 30 minutes of treatment. While he had no additional thromboembolic complications and the priapism did not recur, the man did end up with other complications of the coronavirus.
This case is not the only one in a patient with coronavirus. Also, a 62-year-old man with Covid-19 symptoms experienced priapism after being placed on a ventilator, according to a study published in a study published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. The second recorded case occurred in Versailles, France: A 62-year-old man suffered the same symptom, with an erection lasting four hours.
