PMID- 32234371
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20201221
LR  - 20210602
IS  - 1743-6109 (Electronic)
IS  - 1743-6095 (Print)
IS  - 1743-6095 (Linking)
VI  - 17
IP  - 6
DP  - 2020 Jun
TI  - The Successful Measurement of Clitoral Pulse Amplitude Using a New Clitoral 
      Photoplethysmograph: A Pilot Study.
PG  - 1118-1125
LID - S1743-6095(20)30121-1 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.jsxm.2020.02.017 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although the clitoris is more sensitive to stimulation and its 
      innervation more conducive to sensory feedback than the vagina, the field of 
      sexual psychophysiology, which uses psychophysiological methods including genital 
      response measures to study sexual arousal, relies heavily on the measurement of 
      vaginal, rather than clitoral, pulse amplitude. AIM: To develop and test a new 
      clitoral photoplethysmograph for the measurement of clitoral pulse amplitude 
      (CPA). METHODS: 2 versions of the new device, which differed in the orientation 
      of the sensor and light source (parallel vs angled), were tested in 15 
      premenopausal, sexually functional women. Vaginal pulse amplitude (VPA) was 
      assessed simultaneously. The women viewed a 3-minute erotic and an 
      anxiety-inducing film segment with each clitoral sensor, interspersed with 
      neutral video excerpts. In addition, they were asked to indicate their subjective 
      level of sexual arousal during and after erotic video presentations. OUTCOMES: 
      The main outcome measures are CPA, VPA, and subjective sexual arousal. RESULTS: 
      The clitoral photoplethysmograph successfully detected CPA. The quality of the 
      signals was best for the angled sensor. Main effects of the film and the 
      interaction between the film and epoch were stronger for the clitoral than for 
      the vaginal device. In addition, CPA followed more closely changes in intensity 
      of sexual films than VPA. Within- and between-subject correlations between 
      genital response and subjective sexual arousal were higher for the clitoral than 
      for the vaginal device. CLINICAL TRANSLATION: Comparison of CPA with other 
      genital blood flow measures in clinical samples is indicated and may contribute 
      to improved physiological assessments of sexual response in women. STRENGTHS AND 
      LIMITATIONS: Our sample was small and consisted of healthy volunteers. Future 
      research could examine test-retest reliability, by including multiple recording 
      sessions, and further explore the specificity of CPA by comparing sexual and 
      non-sexual stimuli with positive valence. CONCLUSION: This study presents the 
      first instrument to successfully measure CPA. Mechelmans DJ, Sachtler WL, von 
      Wiegand TE, et al. The Successful Measurement of Clitoral Pulse Amplitude Using a 
      New Clitoral Photoplethysmograph: A Pilot Study. J Sex Med 2020;17:1118-1125.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2020 International Society for Sexual Medicine. Published by Elsevier 
      Inc. All rights reserved.
FAU - Mechelmans, Daisy J
AU  - Mechelmans DJ
AD  - Institute for Family and Sexuality Studies, University of Leuven, Leuven, 
      Belgium.
FAU - Sachtler, Wendelin L
AU  - Sachtler WL
AD  - Sensimetrics Corporation, Woburn, MA, USA.
FAU - von Wiegand, Thomas E
AU  - von Wiegand TE
AD  - Sensimetrics Corporation, Woburn, MA, USA.
FAU - Goodrich, David
AU  - Goodrich D
AD  - Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, Lindley Hall, Bloomington, IN, USA.
FAU - Heiman, Julia R
AU  - Heiman JR
AD  - Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, Lindley Hall, Bloomington, IN, USA; 
      Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, 
      IN, USA.
FAU - Janssen, Erick
AU  - Janssen E
AD  - Institute for Family and Sexuality Studies, University of Leuven, Leuven, 
      Belgium; Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, Lindley Hall, Bloomington, IN, 
      USA. Electronic address: erick.janssen@kuleuven.be.
LA  - eng
GR  - R43 HD065520/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
DEP - 20200329
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - J Sex Med
JT  - The journal of sexual medicine
JID - 101230693
SB  - IM
MH  - *Arousal
MH  - *Clitoris
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Photoplethysmography
MH  - Pilot Projects
MH  - Reproducibility of Results
MH  - Sexual Behavior
MH  - Vagina
PMC - PMC7282935
MID - NIHMS1568680
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Clitoral Photoplethysmography
OT  - Clitoral Pulse Amplitude
OT  - Sexual Arousal
OT  - Vaginal Pulse Amplitude
COIS- Conflict of Interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.
EDAT- 2020/04/03 06:00
MHDA- 2020/12/22 06:00
PMCR- 2021/06/01
CRDT- 2020/04/03 06:00
PHST- 2019/06/14 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2020/01/20 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2020/02/14 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2020/04/03 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2020/12/22 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2020/04/03 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2021/06/01 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - S1743-6095(20)30121-1 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.jsxm.2020.02.017 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Sex Med. 2020 Jun;17(6):1118-1125. doi: 10.1016/j.jsxm.2020.02.017. Epub 2020 
      Mar 29.