Programmed Penile Rehabilitation After Radical Prostatectomy with Nerve Grafting

摘要

This study evaluates compliance and recovery of penile length with programmed use of vacuum erection device (VED) and intracavernosal injection (ICI) in patients who underwent unilateral nerve-sparing prostatectomy with or without unilateral sural nerve grafting. At the 4 month evaluation, 73.3% and 52.3% patients were using VED and ICI as instructed. These numbers dropped significantly at 8 and 12 month follow-up (p<0.05). Patients aged 57 or older had better compliance than younger ones (p<0.05). There is significant recovery of penile length in patients with good VED compliance and in patients who received nerve graft compared to those with poor compliance and those without nerve graft (p<0.05). This study demonstrated the benefits on recovering of penile length for patients who complied with a rehabilitation program and for patients who received sural nerve graft after unilateral nerve-sparing prostatectomy.