Erectile dysfunction can turn deadly

AUSTIN (KXAN) - There is a phenomenon in medicine.

"You can think of it as a double-paned window of silence," said Dr. Stanley Wang, a cardiologist at the Heart Hospital of Austin . "On the one hand, men have a hard time talking about ED because it's an embarrassing topic, difficult for men to discuss. And on the other hand, men are reluctant to seek out evaluation for heart disease because it's very scary. So with these two barriers, it can be very difficult for men to come to a doctor's office and talk about these things."

That is a very big problem because two new medical studies indicate that men who have erectile dysfunction could well be headed toward dangerous heart conditions.

"If you have erectile dysfunction, then moving forward over the next five years, your chance of having a heart attack is almost doubled and your chance of dying from a heart-related problem is almost doubled, as well," said Wang.

That's because plaque that clogs arteries in and around the heart shows up first in smaller arteries in the pelvic region, arteries that are supposed to engorge the penis with blood during sexual arousal. So ED turns out to be like the proverbial "canary in the coal mine," when it comes to heart issues.

Heart disease, of course, is not the only cause of erectile dysfunction, so there is no need to panic.

But ED patients in high-risk groups are especially vulnerable. That means men who meet at least three of these categories are considered high-risk:

• Older than 45
• Tobacco smokers
• Those with diabetes, uncontrolled high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels in the blood.

And, according to medical research, the younger a man is when he develops ED, the stronger the link will be between the two conditions.

The good news is that a doctor treating erectile dysfunction is in a position to refer patients to specialists who can investigate possible underlying heart ailments, even if no overt symptoms have yet appeared. The even better news is that ED patients who are not in high-risk categories can often successfully intervene with simple lifestyle changes like exercising, eating right and losing weight.

Perhaps the best news of all is that patients in both groups can often improve their erections, as well as head off deadly heart problems. First though, they've got to get themselves to a doctor and ask the right questions.

"I think that the link between erectile dysfunction and heart disease may be enough to encourage them to come and may even be enough for their partners and family members to get them to go in there," said Dr. David Phillips, a urologist with Urology Austin . "So now you're sort of dealing with more than yourself when you're dealing with erectile dysfunction. You could die."

Wang agrees. "ED is not really a reflection of manhood, but it may actually be a reflection of underlying heart disease," he said. "It may be heart disease below the belt."