OBJECTIVETo investigate the run and distribution of penile deep veins and to evaluate the application of the findings to penile vein ligating operation.

METHODSWe dissected the penises of 28 formalin-preserved male adult cadavers, whose health condition, penile erection condition when alive, exact age and cause of death were unknown, and recorded the number and location of the cavernous and crural veins and their relationship with the surrounding important organs and tissues.

RESULTSThe cavernous veins emerged from the dorsal groove of the fixed segment, ran proximately in the dorsal groove, branched into two and drained into either side of the internal pudendal vein respectively, with the internal pudendal artery-cavernous artery-dorsal artery system running laterally and superficially. All the cavernous veins had communications with the periprostatic venous plexus. In the 56 crura of the 28 specimens, there were 250 crural veins, 76 in 42 sides (75.0%) traveling medial to the internal pudendal artery-cavernous artery-dorsal artery system.

CONCLUSIONThe penile deep venous system is structurally complicated, extensively connected with the surrounding veins and closely related to the surrounding organs, which makes it very difficult to ligate all the deep veins and avoid damage to the cavernous arteries and nerves in vein-involved surgery.