Prostate And Impotence: Treatments For Erectile Dysfunction After Cancer Treatment
Most patients that undergo prostate cancer treatment face erectile dysfunction. After the procedure, most men want to get some function back, so they often have many questions about their prostate and impotence. Answers are not always easy to find, so here is a compilation of questions and answers.
Do all prostate cancer treatments cause impotence? Yes, all common methods of prostate cancer treatment oftentimes cause impotence.
And impotence can settle in quickly. Some patients experience impotence right after the surgery is completed. The degree of impotence is largely determined by the stage of the cancer, the treatment procedure, and the skill of the doctor during the treatment.
But there are several treatment options available to men facing impotence after prostate cancer treatment. The most frequently used and most successful treatment is oral medications. Other treatments include intracavernous injections, penile suppositories, vacuum constriction pumping, and implants.
The most well known oral medications include Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra. All three of them work by increasing blood flow to the penis during sexual stimulation which results in an erection. They are the only three Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved PDE-5 inhibitors. Viagra (Sildenafil Citrate) and Levitra (Vardenafil hydrochloride) is recommended to be taken about an hour before sexual intercourse and lasts about four hours. Cialis (Tadalfil) should also be taken an hour before sex, but can last up to 36 hours.
What if PDE-5 inhibitors do not work? Unfortunately, PDE-5 inhibitors do not work for everyone. In fact, they do not work for about thirty percent of patients. Men may look into other methods. One method is intracavernous injection. This is the injection of medications such as Papaverine, Regitine, or Prostaglandin E-1 into the penis before intercourse. Another method is medicated suppositories that are inserted into the urethra. Alprostadil is the most common suppository and is also called medicated urethral system for erection, or MUSE for short.
Other methods include vacuum pumps, which constrict blood in the penis resulting in erection, and implants. There are two types of implants, semi-rigid rods and inflatable. Semi-rigid rods involve the implanting of metal rods that can be bent into erect and non-erect positions. A more comfortable and expensive option is inflatable implants. These implants use inflatable tubes and cylinders filled with solution that inflate into an erection.
Regardless of what method you may be interested in, there are many available to patients with prostate and impotence problems. As with any medical treatment, a physician should be consulted for treatments and solutions that meet your needs.
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