Priapism refers to a painful, prolonged penile erection. One of the main causes for priapism is sickle cell disease, which may cause different patterns depending on the duration, frequency and severity of the erection.
Duration
Findings
Term
> 24 hours
requires hospitalization and treatment with operation and/or transfusion
major
< 3 hours
isolated or infrequent
minor
< 3 hours
multiple episodes several times a week for 4 weeks or more; may occur in "bursts"
stuttering
This leaves 2 additional patterns to fill the gaps:
(1) duration 3 – 24 hours ("intermediate")
(2) frequency between once in a while and several times a week for a month or more ("intermittent")
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