Men react differently when they receive the news that they have Prostate Cancer. To some men, these two words sound like a death sentence and their whole life flashes before them as they take the news in. Other men, who have had friends or relatives with the condition, know that the survival rates, especially for early diagnosis are extremely good. In fact, almost 80% of men that get Prostate Cancer, will live for ten years or more. Considering that Prostate Cancer affects much older men, for some this makes no difference to their life expectancy.
But the question in every male patient’s mind, when he sees the andrologist is: how serious is it, am I going to die, and how long have I got to live?
Once diagnosed, a treatment protocol is agreed with the patient. For some, especially the elderly, medication may be enough to keep cancer under control. An eighty-year-old man might be told, that he has Prostate Cancer, but because of his age and other conditions, he won’t die of cancer but will eventually succumb for other reasons. Therefore, there is no value in surgical intervention.
Many men they will be told that they need to go down the surgical route. They will also be told that there are side effects which include Erectile Dysfunction and Incontinence. But for the majority of men, their minds will be firmly focused on living, rather than the side effects of surviving. The side effects of the essential surgery don’t hit home until they are in post-operative care.
The most common type of surgery for Prostate Cancer patients is a radical prostatectomy, where either part of the prostate or the whole prostate gland is removed. Nerves within the prostate are lost, but the surgeon will try and save the nerve bundles on the outside of the prostate. This is known as nerve-sparing and these nerves are key to erectile function. Surgical success has improved significantly over the years and the number of men having a total nerve-sparing prostatectomy has increased.
Post-operation, men go into recovery and then find to their shock that they are unable to have an erection or a very weak erection they also suffer incontinence problems and have to wear pads to stop leakage. Men are advised that these problems may improve, but for many, they do not. In fact, over 80% of men undergoing radical prostatectomy have long-term Erectile Dysfunction. These men are given Kegel or pelvic floor exercises and told to do them manually, some are prescribed a penis pump and others receive medication, but the majority will have problems due to the prostate nerves being aggravated and compromised.
New forms of treatment are emerging with extremely promising results being achieved for Erectile Dysfunction and Incontinence using a combination of Focused Shockwave Therapy, EMTT therapy, and Functional Magnetic Stimulation.
A leading clinic in this area is Mansmatters. They are renowned in the UK for treating a range of Men’s Health conditions, using a combination of the latest high-tech medical devices. Their flagship clinic is based in Knightsbridge, Central London, two minutes away from the iconic Harrods department store and less than a kilometer away from Buckingham Palace.
This is a guest post submitted by
Charles Turner
Joint Managing Partner _ Mansmatters
Charles spent many years as a Management Consultant with a range of international medical companies.
He is responsible for clinical excellence and Peyronie’s Disease & Erectile Dysfunction development programs.
Read More: Basic Information About Prostate Cancer
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