Dutch oncologists are faced with an unusual occurrence after a routine operation to remove a colon tumor on a 58-year-old man. They described this case in the BMJ Case Reports. It is reported that the hemicolectomy operation itself (removal of half of the large intestine) was carried out under epidural anesthesia and was successful, but the man soon after had an intractable erection, he did not tell the nurses about his problem for a day.
After a day of torment, he complained to the attending physician. The urologist who examined the patient diagnosed ischemic priapism, which occurs due to stagnation of blood, which required surgical intervention. By that time, the man's painful state of arousal had been present for 48 hours. The operation, during which the blood flow was restored with a syringe, gave temporary relief, but a day later the painful erection began again.
Doctors injected the patient with phenylephrine to normalize blood flow, however, due to the fact that the treatment was belated, and the man developed erectile dysfunction, which they managed to get rid of only after six months of taking special medications. The exact cause of the problem remains unclear, but scientists suggest that the cause of priapism was the substance propofol, which was injected for anesthesia during surgery.