Venous leak: some information
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 6:24 pm
Hi guys,
I'm 30 and venous leak has been eating me alive since age 22. Since the begin of this sh*t I have been researching a lot. At age of 25 I've managed to get a job in a pharmaceutical company and could read some dossiers about venous leak. Well, the problem of doctors is that they are unaware of it. This illnes exists.
Some important information:
1 when you think you suffer from venous leak the first thing to do is to go to doctor and see if you have a varicocele. The doctor can provide a diagnosis with Valsalva maneuver ad even better with scrotal ultrasound.
2 if you don't have varicocele (or even if you have it) look at the veins on your leg (especially those behind the knee or in the internal side of your feet). Probably you will notice varicous veins, or blue veins, or a lot of superficial violet capillars (this is not the rule, but there is a good probability you have them if you are suffering from venous leak)
3 you could also develop (maybe later in time) Hemorrhoids
4 look at the legs of your mother (or father) and those of your grandparents. If you have venous leak, surely one of them suffers from varicose veins.
Why do you have to check for this signs? Because venous leak is not just an illnes of the penis, venous leak is a general venogenic disorder of the body. There are really few doctors who can do this association. The vast majority of them says: "you are too young, it's all in your head". Bullsh*t.
Well, why do I say that it is a general venogenic disorder of the body: according to the dossiers I've read there is a general "genetic" problem in patient with venous leak. Normally patients with venous leak develop this problem when they are 20 years old (some patients are born with venous leak mostly because of defective valves, some develop it when they are 30). But why the vast majority develops it at 20-22? Because that's the point in time when your body stops producing elastin and you have to live your entire life with the reservoir of elastin you have produced until 20 years old (Elastin is a highly elastic protein in connective tissue and allows many tissues in the body to resume their shape after stretching or contracting). When you have venogenic disease the elastin in the veins starts to be destroyed and replaced with collagen (that is less elastic). This is like a sort of accelerating ageing. Some studies shows that transforming growth factor-B plays an important role in this damaging process of veins wall. Bad news is that elastin is of vital importance for the tunica albuginea. As venogenic patients have a general "elastin-collagen building disorder" the tunica albuginea will be attacked too. I'm not talking about peyronies plaque or so on. The less elastic tunica albuginea will suffer from subluxation and floppiness, and is going to have difficulties in compressing the sub-tunical and emissary veins of the penis. Moreover these veins are already altered in their structure because of the general venogenic disease.
But please do not misinterpret what I am saying: the cause of venous leak are not simply the veins, the cause of venous leak is a fibrotic degeneration of the erectile tissue caused by the genetic disorder in the construction of connective tissue. The fibrotic degeneration (i.e. Deterioration of elastine and susbtitution/repair with fibrotic tissue) can take place everywhere in the penis: in the tunica albuginea, in the intracavernous septum, in the intracavernous pillars or in the whole corpora cavernosa. The results is an erectile tissue that is less elastic and is no more able to activate the veno-occlusive mechanism, which consists in engorgement of the corpora cavernosa that press the subtunical venous plexus against the tunica albuginea and the tunica itself expands and closes the emissary veins (whic come out from the subtunical venous plexus and go out through holes in the tunica). The work of elastic corpora cavernosa and elastic tunica albuginea together provide the perfect veno-occlusion, which generate that pression in the penis which keep it rigid. Unfortunately, when the fibrotic degeneration is in the first phase, usually it is not detectable through a penile doppler ultrasound, because the changes in the tissue are MICRO changes. In fact, if you whatch videos of penile implant surgeries (for example those of Dr. Kramer), some patients show surprisingly plaques and scars in their corpora only once the corpora are open and the surgeon tries to dilate them.Only in the aggressive phase of the degeneration the fibrosis is shown in a doppler ultrasound. Therefore, what I wanted to explain is that venogenic patients (with varicocele, varicous veins etc.) have a higher probability of developping this degeneration at youn age.
In Peyronyie's disease occurs something similar in the tunica albuginea, but instead of subluxation and floppiness we can assist to the building of scar tissue/scar nodules in the tunica albuginea, which cause the penis to bend. Anyway scar tissue, or subluxation, or floppiness of the tunica have the same results: non-compliance of the tunica albuginea that causes venous leak.
What is the solution? The only available definitive solution today is the penile implant. A future solution could probably come out from gene therapy, that should stop and reverse this "elastin-collagen building disorder".
I hope it was useful.
Regards
I'm 30 and venous leak has been eating me alive since age 22. Since the begin of this sh*t I have been researching a lot. At age of 25 I've managed to get a job in a pharmaceutical company and could read some dossiers about venous leak. Well, the problem of doctors is that they are unaware of it. This illnes exists.
Some important information:
1 when you think you suffer from venous leak the first thing to do is to go to doctor and see if you have a varicocele. The doctor can provide a diagnosis with Valsalva maneuver ad even better with scrotal ultrasound.
2 if you don't have varicocele (or even if you have it) look at the veins on your leg (especially those behind the knee or in the internal side of your feet). Probably you will notice varicous veins, or blue veins, or a lot of superficial violet capillars (this is not the rule, but there is a good probability you have them if you are suffering from venous leak)
3 you could also develop (maybe later in time) Hemorrhoids
4 look at the legs of your mother (or father) and those of your grandparents. If you have venous leak, surely one of them suffers from varicose veins.
Why do you have to check for this signs? Because venous leak is not just an illnes of the penis, venous leak is a general venogenic disorder of the body. There are really few doctors who can do this association. The vast majority of them says: "you are too young, it's all in your head". Bullsh*t.
Well, why do I say that it is a general venogenic disorder of the body: according to the dossiers I've read there is a general "genetic" problem in patient with venous leak. Normally patients with venous leak develop this problem when they are 20 years old (some patients are born with venous leak mostly because of defective valves, some develop it when they are 30). But why the vast majority develops it at 20-22? Because that's the point in time when your body stops producing elastin and you have to live your entire life with the reservoir of elastin you have produced until 20 years old (Elastin is a highly elastic protein in connective tissue and allows many tissues in the body to resume their shape after stretching or contracting). When you have venogenic disease the elastin in the veins starts to be destroyed and replaced with collagen (that is less elastic). This is like a sort of accelerating ageing. Some studies shows that transforming growth factor-B plays an important role in this damaging process of veins wall. Bad news is that elastin is of vital importance for the tunica albuginea. As venogenic patients have a general "elastin-collagen building disorder" the tunica albuginea will be attacked too. I'm not talking about peyronies plaque or so on. The less elastic tunica albuginea will suffer from subluxation and floppiness, and is going to have difficulties in compressing the sub-tunical and emissary veins of the penis. Moreover these veins are already altered in their structure because of the general venogenic disease.
But please do not misinterpret what I am saying: the cause of venous leak are not simply the veins, the cause of venous leak is a fibrotic degeneration of the erectile tissue caused by the genetic disorder in the construction of connective tissue. The fibrotic degeneration (i.e. Deterioration of elastine and susbtitution/repair with fibrotic tissue) can take place everywhere in the penis: in the tunica albuginea, in the intracavernous septum, in the intracavernous pillars or in the whole corpora cavernosa. The results is an erectile tissue that is less elastic and is no more able to activate the veno-occlusive mechanism, which consists in engorgement of the corpora cavernosa that press the subtunical venous plexus against the tunica albuginea and the tunica itself expands and closes the emissary veins (whic come out from the subtunical venous plexus and go out through holes in the tunica). The work of elastic corpora cavernosa and elastic tunica albuginea together provide the perfect veno-occlusion, which generate that pression in the penis which keep it rigid. Unfortunately, when the fibrotic degeneration is in the first phase, usually it is not detectable through a penile doppler ultrasound, because the changes in the tissue are MICRO changes. In fact, if you whatch videos of penile implant surgeries (for example those of Dr. Kramer), some patients show surprisingly plaques and scars in their corpora only once the corpora are open and the surgeon tries to dilate them.Only in the aggressive phase of the degeneration the fibrosis is shown in a doppler ultrasound. Therefore, what I wanted to explain is that venogenic patients (with varicocele, varicous veins etc.) have a higher probability of developping this degeneration at youn age.
In Peyronyie's disease occurs something similar in the tunica albuginea, but instead of subluxation and floppiness we can assist to the building of scar tissue/scar nodules in the tunica albuginea, which cause the penis to bend. Anyway scar tissue, or subluxation, or floppiness of the tunica have the same results: non-compliance of the tunica albuginea that causes venous leak.
What is the solution? The only available definitive solution today is the penile implant. A future solution could probably come out from gene therapy, that should stop and reverse this "elastin-collagen building disorder".
I hope it was useful.
Regards