How to Deal with Erectile Dysfunction after Being Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer?

Prostate Cancer Medicine

Approximately all men will involvement some erectile dysfunction for the first few months after prostate cancer treatment. However, within one year after treatment, nearly all men with intact anxieties will see a substantial improvement.

Following Nerve-Sparing Prostatectomy

Within one year, about 40 to 50% of men will have refunded to their pre-treatment function. After two years, about 30 to 60% will have repaid to pre-treatment function. These charges vary widely depending on the surgeon and how the extent of “nerve-sparing” a surgeon can achieve at the time of surgery.

Following Radiation Therapy

About 25 to 50% of men who experience brachytherapy will experience erectile dysfunction vs. nearly 50% of men who have characteristic external beam radiation. After two to three years, few men will see much of an expansion and occasionally these statistics worsen over time.

Men who experience actions not designed to diminish side effects and/or those whose treatments are accomplished by physicians who are not proficient in the procedures will fare inferior.

Men with other diseases or grievances that impair their ability to maintain an erection (diabetes, vascular problems, etc.) will eat a more difficult time returning to pre-treatment determination.

Managing of Erectile Dysfunction
Oral pills relax the muscles in the penis, permitting blood to rapidly flow in. On average, the drugs take approximately an hour to begin employed, and the erection-helping effects can last from 8 to 36 hours.
About 75% of men who experience nerve-sparing prostatectomy or more precise forms of radioactivity therapy have reported positively achieving erections after using these drugs. However, they are not for everyone, including men who take pills for angina or other heart difficulties and men who take alpha-blockers.

Another treatment

Men who do not repossession erectile function after treatment can try injectable medication that pharmacologically encouraged an erection. The most mutual drug used for this is Prostaglandin.

Mechanical Devices

The vacuum contraction device generates an erection mechanically by convincing blood into the penis using a space cover. A neoprene ring rolled onto the base of the penis avoids blood from escaping once the closure is broken. About 80% of men find this device positive.

Surgical Options

A three-pieced surgically introduced penile implant includes a slender flexible plastic tube introduced along the length of the penis, an unimportant balloon-like structure filled with fluid devoted to the abdominal wall, and a release button introduced into the testicle.

The penis leftovers flaccid until an erection is wanted, at which point the release button is busy and fluid from the balloon dailies into the plastic tube. As the tube straightens from being occupied with the fluid, it pulls the penis up through it, creating an erection.

Assuming the process is working correctly, it is 100% effective, and about 70% of men remain happy with their implants even after 10 years. Because this process is done under general anesthesia, it is not existing for men who are not considered good candidates for surgery because of other health motives.

Erectile Dysfunction Succeeding Radical Prostatectomy

Pretentious the management of erectile dysfunction necessitates expert diagnosis and treatment.
The judgment includes sexual function history, general medical past, psychosocial history, medication history, physical inspection, and appropriate laboratory testing.

Treatment follows judgment, and we provide a range of treatment selections through the Clinic.

Minimally aggressive treatment options range from oral medications to medications managed directly to the penis to a mechanical emptiness device applied to the penis. Invasive treatments comprise implants or vascular surgery. We are predominantly experts in the operating treatment of patients with erectile dysfunction. The variety of conditions we manage include penile prosthesis problems, penile vascular abnormalities, penile curvature, and abnormally prolonged erection penalties.

Emotional treatment is an important adjunct to the management of erectile dysfunction. If our diagnosis suggests a psychological connotation with your erectile dysfunction, we may indorse that you pursue counseling with a qualified psychologist accessible through the Clinic.

For case, there may be relationship problems that damagingly affect sexual working with your partner. Referrals can be made to the Johns Hopkins' noted Sexual Behaviors Discussion Unit.

Erectile dysfunction succeeding radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer is an identified potential problem of the surgery. With the advent of the nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy technique, many men can expect to recover erectile purpose in the current era.

However, despite the expert submission of the nerve-sparing prostatectomy technique, early retrieval of natural erectile function is not shared. Increasing courtesy has been given to this problem in recent years with the progression of possible new healing options to enhance erection function retrieval following this surgery.

This topic area was touched thoroughly in an article written by Dr. Arthur L. Burnett, permitted "Erectile Dysfunction Following Radical Prostatectomy," available in the Journal of the American Medical Association, June 1, 2005. Using a question and answer set-up, excerpts from this article are providing below.

What is the reputation of preserved erectile function?

In considering the influence of the various treatment methods for prostate cancer on their quality of life, many patients place dominant importance on the possibility of retentive natural erectile function. This matter is often important to young men who by age status are additionally likely to have intact erectile purpose than older men; though, for all men having normal preoperative erectile function irrespective of age, preservation of this function is reasonably important postoperatively.

What are the current prospects about outcomes after radical prostatectomy?

Following a series of functional discoveries of the prostate and its nearby structures about 2 decades ago, changes in the medical approach permitted the procedure to be achieved with significantly improved consequences. Now after the surgery, prospects are that physical capacity is fully healthier in most patients within several weeks, the return of urinary continence is attained by more than 95% of patients within a few months, and erection recovery with the ability to engage in sexual intercourse is regained by most patients with or deprived of oral phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors inside 2 years.
Why is there cumulative concern at this time concerning erectile dysfunction issues following radical prostatectomy?

The reality of the retrieval process after radical prostatectomy nowadays is that erectile function recovery lags behind the functional recovery in other areas. Patients are understandably worried about this issue and, succeeding months of erectile dysfunction, become skeptical of the comforts that their potency will return.

Why does it take so long to improve erections after the very best surgery?

Several clarifications have been planned for this phenomenon of delayed recovery, including mechanically induced nerve stretching that may occur during prostate withdrawal, thermal damage to nerve tissue caused by electrocoagulation cautery during medical dissection, injury to nerve tissue amid challenges to control surgical bleeding, and local inflammatory effects related with surgical trauma.

Treatment of prostate cancer

Prostate Medicine, Prostate Cancer Medicine