Surgery Surgery One intuitively suspects that the best way to cure a cancer is to remove it from the body. The cure rate is less. These excellent results are not without a price, the two chief potential problems being incontinence and impotence. More severe forms can be treated by incontinence clamps, collagen injections, or artificial sphincters.
Impotence usually occurs as a result of surgery.
Orgasmic function is usually preserved, so sexual activity can be maintained and enjoyed by use of vacuum devices, self injection therapy, or implantation of prostheses. The other complication peculiar to surgery is excessive scar tissue resulting in strictures in the urinary passage. The long term results of surgery suggest that it is the treatment of choice for young men with a reasonable 10 - 15 year life expectancy. In general, this means reasonably healthy men under the age of 65 - 70. In older men the chances of living long enough to appreciate the benefits of surgery are less, and the incidence of post-operative incontinence appears to be increased.