Impotence or, more clinically, erectile dysfunction is the inability to maintain an erection of the penis for satisfactory sexual intercourse regardless of the capability of ejaculation. Unfortunately the facts about this subject have often become intertwined with sensational advertising. In the 1930s the American radio airwaves were bombarded with such advertising, first from domestic stations and then upon action by the American Medical Association the media blitz was shifted to superpower Mex...

Erectile dysfunction, or ED, can be a total inability to achieve erection, an inconsistent ability to do so, or a tendency to sustain only brief erections. These variations make defining ED and estimating its incidence difficult. Estimates range from 15 million to 30 million, depending on the definition used. According to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), for every 1,000 men in the United States, 7.7 physician office visits were made for ED in 1985. By 1999, that rate had near...