Prostate cancer is a prevalent tumor disease in men. The exhaustive treatment, which often involves removing the organ, not only brings about physical changes but also puts a heavy mental toll. And as an organ closely associated with sexual function, it puts relationships under enormous strain.
In addition to the exhaustive mental demand of the treatment, the removal of the Prostate significantly impairs sexuality. So, can you still get an erection after prostate removal?
Prostate Surgery And Erectile Dysfunction
How will your sex life be after prostate cancer treatment? It’s a question that worries men that are diagnosed with prostate cancer. Unfortunately, erectile dysfunction is quite prevalent in men who undergo prostate removal surgery.
So, will you get an erection after prostate removal? In most cases, you might not, but the answer is not so simple. Let’s understand why!
Why Prostate Removal Causes Erectile Dysfunction?
The Prostate is a round chestnut-sized organ located at the center of the male urogenital tract. It’s often referred to as the prostate gland and produces prostate secretions that constitute a large part of semen.
Most importantly, the Prostate acts as a closure to the urinary bladder. This ensures that urine doesn’t enter the semen. Likewise, it also ensures that no semen enters the bladder.
But how does it affect erection? While the Prostate doesn’t play any significant part in getting an erection, the fine, sensitive nerve fibers that control male potency and erection run very close to the Prostate, some along the surface of the organ itself. These nerves reach the penis via the Prostate in so-called ‘vascular nerve bundles.’
Therefore, there’s a high risk of nerve fiber damage during Prostate removal, which results in erectile dysfunction. Simply put, if these nerves are damaged (which is highly likely), you won’t get an erection. As much as 30% of men who undergo prostate surgery suffer from erectile dysfunction.
Prostate Removal And Inability to Get an Erection
In most cases, the tumor remains within the Prostate, meaning it doesn’t break through its walls and spread to neighboring parts. In that case, radical nerve-sparing prostatectomy, the surgical removal of the Prostate, could completely cure the cancer. Likewise, due to minimum invasion on the nerve bundles, complete preservation of erection is also possible in most cases.
However, in more advanced prostate cancer, where the tumor has already penetrated the nearby tissues and the enclosing prostate capsule, complete resection of the affected area is needed to weed off the tumor.
In such cases, damage to the vascular-nerve bundle is inevitable. Consequently, it leads to postoperative impotence in men.
Moreover, even if the nerve bundle is not severed somehow during the surgery, there’s still a huge risk of nerve damage due to tension or pressure on these sensitive structures caused by the surgery. Therefore, prostate removal involves a high risk of temporary or permanent erectile dysfunction.
But the good news is that treatment options are available to cure the condition to a certain extent.
How long does the postoperative impotence last after radical prostatectomy?
The inability to get an erection after radical prostatectomy often disappears within a few weeks. However, in some cases, it may linger longer or remain lifelong. How long the impotence after prostatectomy lasts depends on the damage the vascular nerve bundle sustained during the operation.
In advanced prostate cancer, where the tumor has invaded the enclosing prostate capsule, the serving of the nerve fiber can’t be avoided. In that case, erectile dysfunction is sure to occur.
However, the nerves regenerate in many cases, and the ability to hold an erection improves over time.
With good preventive measures and supportive therapy, importance disappears within a few weeks.
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Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction after Prostate Surgery
Several treatments are available to treat postoperative impotence, but the key is to start early. The most common treatment is drug therapy with PDE-5 inhibitors. This therapy leads to the expansion of penile vessels leading to increased blood flow.
Alternatively, medicines that increase blood flow can be directly injected into the penile tissue. Likewise, it can also be inserted into the urethra using an applicator.