Magnetic Resonance Imaging of strongSexual Intercoursestrong Initial.pdfVIP

Journal of Sex Marital Therapy, 27:475–482, 2001 Copyright © 2001 Brunner-Routledge 0092-623X/01 $12.00 + .00 Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Sexual Intercourse: Initial Experience A. FAIX, J.F . LAPRAY, C. COURTIEU, A. MAUBON, and KERRY LANFREY Department of Urology and Radiology, CMC Beausoleil, Montpellier, France The objective of this study was to investigate sexual intercourse with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) . A volunteer couple (30 year- old male, 27-year-old female ) with a normal sex life, hadface-to- face sexual intercourse ( reversed missionary position) under MRI. Static and dynamic T2-weighted sagittal sequencies were acquired on the midline before and during vaginalpenetration. In thisposi- tion, before penetration, the vagina was parallel to the pubococ- cygeal line and had normal anterior convexity. After penetration, accentuation of the vaginal convexity was observed, produced by thepenile gland reaching the anterior cul-de-sac and contact with the anterior vaginal wall. The posterior bladder wall was pushed forward and upward, the uterus upward and backward. In this initial experience, we observed a preferential contact of the penis in erection with the anterior vaginal wall and the anterior cul-de- sac in the face-to-face sexual position. MRI allows a noninvasive assessment of sexual intercourse. INTRODUCTION The anatomy of sexual intercourse has never previously been investigated using modern imaging techniques. In the 15th century, Leonard de Vinci ( 1901) attempted to reproduce a schema of sexual intercourse. He hypoth- esized that the axis of the penis was in a straight line during coitus. Anatomi- cal studies of cadavers have found that there is a slight posteri