At some time or another, most men have suffered from temporary impotence. For 20 million Americans, however, their chronic inability to achieve or maintain an erection is more than just a passing embarrassment. In most of those cases, doctors now believe, the cause is biological, not psychological. Yet the treatments that are available--pneumatic pumps, injections, surgical implants--are far from satisfactory. They may be effective, but they are not much fun.
That may change if a pill called sildenafil fulfills its early promise. Doctors at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association last week reported preliminary results from three short-term European...