The erectile dysfunction can have a great negative impact on sexual life on a man. This means the inability to have a satisfactory erection for the sexual intercourse. The treatments for prostate cancer can cause erectile dysfunction. The treatments that can cause erectile dysfunction are: cryosurgery, hormone therapy, radiation therapy and surgery to remove the entire prostate gland.



The type of surgery, the skill of the surgeon and the stage of the cancer can have an impact on the severity of the erectile dysfunction. For a better recovery of the erectile function after the first year after the surgery it must be used a nerve sparing technique. There is a very slim chance of recovery if it had used a non-nerve sparing surgery.

For men who have followed a radiation therapy there is a greater risk over time not to recover the erectile function. Diabetes or vascular problems can ad to the risk of losing erectile function. For rapid blood flow in the penis there are medications such as tadalafil (Cialis), sildenafil (Viagra) and vardenafil (Levitra). Usually this drugs start to work after an hour and will last from 8 hours (vardenafil and sidenafil) up to 36 hours in the case of tadalafil. Although these drugs have helped patients who have undergo nerve sparing prostectomy to have erections, there are not suited for everyone.

Surgery and hormone treatment can have as side effect a lower interest in sex. The treatment with testosterone is not suitable in this cases because of the fact testosterone can contribute to growth of the cancer. There are hormones treatments such as anti-androgens (bicalutamide) that cannot affect sexual life especially interest of sex. Couples can cope better with these side effects if both partners are opened to discuss and find solution together.

There is not easy for a man to talk about his erectile problems even with his doctor. The good news is that the doctor might have treated this problems found to other men. He already knows what the prostate patient may encounter during the treatment. There are also prostate cancer organizations that offer counseling. The hardest thing is to talk to the partner mainly because of the fear of rejection.

If your partner is well informed and already knows all there is to know about the prostate cancer it will not be a big surprise when an erectile problem occurs. Together you will find a solution. The continuous research and the evolution of technology of treatments are focused on lowering the risk of impotence and helping men obtain spontaneous erections. Best examples are the newest equipment used for cryotherapy and brachytherapy focused on reducing the risk of occurrence of impotence after the treatment of prostate cancer. Other medical technique used for protecting the erectile function is the nerve-sparing technique used in prostatectomy.

There are treatments for erection dysfunction. Some of them are vacuum constriction device, penile suppositories, and penile implants. This methods work for many men but not for every case. There are patients that feel uncomfortable from wearing vacuum constriction device. Only 30 % of the persons using penile suppositories have positive results. Penile implants works better, but they require complicated surgery.