Prostate cancer is common. It occurs in your prostate — a walnut-sized gland that produces the fluid responsible for nourishing and transporting semen. In many cases, the cancer is slow-growing and contained within the prostate, making treatment easier and your prognosis better.
This gland surrounds your urethra — the tube that carries both urine and semen out of your body. Around your prostate are nerves, blood vessels, and muscles required for erections and bladder control.
Several commonly used treatments for prostate cancer, such as prostatectomy (prostate removal surgery), radiation therapy, and hormone therapy, can affect your physical health in many ways.
Many men find themselves dealing with erectile dysfunction (ED), stress urinary incontinence, or both after recovering from prostate cancer and its treatments.
Thankfully, these conditions can be short-lived if you take the proper follow-up steps, including seeking treatment from a medical professional.
At our practices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, expert urologist Paul Chung, MD, FACS, and our team are passionate about treating conditions you may develop after prostate cancer and restoring your quality of life.
In this month’s blog, we review how we can help treat ED and stress urinary incontinence after surviving prostate cancer.
ED is a condition described as having difficulty achieving or maintaining an erection satisfactory for sex.
The nerves surrounding your prostate are integral for providing sensations needed for erections. Although medical providers administering prostate cancer treatments do their best to preserve nerves during prostate surgery and radiation, it’s not always possible. Even hormone therapy can lower your testosterone levels and decrease your sex drive as a result.
Sometimes erectile function can improve over time (within 1-2 years), but it’s not a guarantee.
Dr. Chung offers treatments for ED. We will recommend one that works best for your preferences and condition severity. Let’s take a closer look at our ED treatment options:
These medications you take by mouth can increase blood flow to your penis to help you get and maintain better erections. You have to take them about 30 minutes before having sex, and you must be sexually stimulated for them to work.
With this treatment, you need to inject medication into the base of your penis to boost blood flow. You will get an erection after about 10 minutes, even without sexual excitement. Your erection will last for about an hour.
This is an external device that consists of a plastic cylinder and a handheld pump that can send blood flow into your penis to enlarge it. Then, you place a band at the base of your penis to keep the erection.
Surgically placed internal devices can create erections via a mechanical implant.
Urinary incontinence refers to having trouble controlling your bladder, leading to urine leaks and accidents.
Stress urinary incontinence happens when sudden pressure is put on your bladder, triggering the muscles that control your urethra to open and leak urine.
When you undergo prostate cancer treatments, such as a prostatectomy and radiation therapy, your bladder, sphincter muscles, and urethra are all impacted. This can make it challenging to control your urine flow when pressure is put on your bladder.
You may find that you leak urine whenever you cough, sneeze, bend over, laugh, or exercise.
Your body should adjust to changes in your urinary system over time, reducing the severity of urine leaks. However, proactive treatments can help your body adjust more quickly and effectively. These treatments include:
If your stress urinary incontinence doesn’t improve with these conservative treatments, surgical options are available. Dr. Chung can discuss your options.
If prostate cancer and its treatments have left you dealing with ED and stress urinary incontinence, don’t wait. Get started with expert treatment from Dr. Chung by calling the nearest office location or booking an appointment online today.
