Some Nerve

摘要

The quarter-million american men who will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year face an agonizing choice: Have the prostate removed and risk impotency; go for radiation and face a higher risk of not getting rid of all the cancer; or let the cancer go untreated and risk death. The dilemma is most harrowing for the 30% of these patients under 65. Surgery to remove the prostate is generally the most effective means to eliminate the cancer and by far the most common choice for those who elect treatment, says the National Prostate Cancer Coalition. But surgery comes with as much as an 80% likelihood of impotence, caused by damage to one or both of the adjacent cavernosal nerves that are responsible for erectile function.