The CaverMap surgical aid is the latest weapon against a problematic outcome of prostate surgery-impotency, or erectile dysfunction. Arousing emotions nearly as intense as survival is the potential for severe side effects of treatment, chiefly impotence. If you can offer men surgery with better preservation of potency, then perhaps more of them will be willing to undergo screening, and more lives will be saved.
New technology seeks to offer that promise of preservation.
A device known as the CaverMap surgical aid utilizes a probe to stimulate nerves that travel along the prostate, and guides the surgeons where the nerves are located that produce erections. By sparing these nerves as they remove the prostate, they hope to preserve sexual potency. According to the National Cancer Institute, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in men in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer death in men. The main problem rests in the complex anatomy of the area. The prostate gland is located at the base of the bladder and is involved in semen production.