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man with covid-19 dies after prolonged erection

a blood clot was believed to be the cause of the priapism, the medical term for a painful, prolonged erection unrelated to sexual activity.

by dave yasvinski

mar 11 2021

3 minute read

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man with covid-19 dies after prolonged erection

a recent journal article suggests a prolonged erection could be one of the complications that come with a covid-19 infection. getty

doctors encountered a seldom seen complication of covid-19 in an ohio patient they were unable to save last summer: an erection that lasted more than three hours.

according to the case report, recently published in the american journal of emergency medicine , the man made his way to the hospital after medication he had been prescribed was not helping with his shortness of breath. the man, who had a history of obesity, soon developed a fever and tested positive for covid-19.

after his respiratory symptoms worsened, the man was intubated, put on a ventilator and placed in a prone position on his stomach to help him breathe more easily. the nurse who arrived the next day to adjust his position turned him over and discovered an unexpected erection. ice packs were employed, to no avail, to reduce the problem that would last for more than three hours.

doctors concluded their patient was suffering from priapism, a painful, prolonged erection unrelated to sexual activity, according to the mayo clinic . there are two main types of priapism: ischemic (or low-flow) is more common and occurs when blood is unable to leave the penis and nonischemic (or high-flow) is less painful and happens when penile blood flow is not regulated properly.

in properly functioning penises, an erection occurs in response to physical or psychological stimulation. this stimulation causes specific muscles to relax, allowing blood to fill and harden the penis. once stimulation has ended, blood leaves the area and the penis returns to a non-rigid state. a priapism results when some part of this system goes awry and the normal flow of blood is altered. while the precise cause is often never known, certain blood-related diseases, including leukemia and sickle cell anemia, might play a part in the process.

alcohol, marijuana and cocaine have also been known to cause priapism (usually ischemic) as has trauma or injury to the area (usually nonischemic). unsurprisingly, getting a tattoo in the area isn’t a particularly good idea, either. untreated, a priapism can cause permanent damage as the oxygen-deprived blood in the penis begins to cause damage to the sensitive surrounding tissue.

it was initially difficult to determine what form of priapism the man was experiencing because he was heavily sedated and unable to accurately convey his level of pain. other tests confirmed an ischemic diagnosis, however, and doctors diffused the situation by draining some of the blood before injecting medicine into the base of his penis to help regulate blood flow. the erection dissipated within 30 minutes.

although the patient’s priapism did not return, his overall condition continued to worsen. he was place on an iv drip before being moved to intensive care to treat a worsening case of acute respiratory distress syndrome from which he would not recover.

the exceedingly rare covid complication has only been documented one other time, in a 62-year-old man from france . ice packs didn’t help him either but after the blood was drained from the area, the patient eventually recovered from the virus.

it is believed that a thromboembolic complication — or a blood clot that forms elsewhere before travelling through the body and getting lodged in a vein — was at the heart of both cases. although such complications have been observed in other covid patients, very few result in poorly timed, enduring erections.

while the condition mainly affects men over 30 years old, anyone with an erection enduring for longer than four hours should seek immediate medical attention.

dave yasvinski is a writer with   healthing.ca

dave yasvinski

man with covid-19 dies after prolonged erection

a blood clot was believed to be the cause of the priapism, the medical term for a painful, prolonged erection unrelated to sexual activity.

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man with covid-19 dies after prolonged erection

a blood clot was believed to be the cause of the priapism, the medical term for a painful, prolonged erection unrelated to sexual activity.

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