Prostate Cancer Treatment and its Effects on Sexual Performance

More than half a million Americans will die of cancer this year, and in men, prostate cancer is second only to lung cancer as a cause of death. Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in America, affecting about 16 percent of men. According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, more than 186,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008, and more than 28,000 men will die from the disease. A new case occurs every two-and-a-half minutes, and a man dies from prostate cancer every 19 minutes.

When it’s caught early, prostate cancer can be stopped in a majority of men. But this disease, not to mention its treatment, can have a profound effect on a man’s ability to perform sexually.

Duration of erectile dysfunction following surgery

If a man requires prostate surgery, or radical prostatectomy, for prostate cancer, his life, especially his sex life, may be changed forever. It is important to remember that surgery of any kind is a traumatic procedure and it takes time for the body to heal and recover. In the event of this type of surgery, the ability to achieve an erection will also take time, but many men will see an improvement in their erections over time, especially men who had no difficulty achieving a good erection before the surgery.

In the first three months to a year following radical prostatectomy, most men will not be able to achieve a spontaneous erection, and will probably require an erectile dysfunction medication that can be bought through an online pharmacy, such as Viagra, to attain an erection.

Radiation therapy

Unlike radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer, radiation therapy may cause problems slowly and over time. The main cause of erectile dysfunction following radiation is damage to the blood vessels supplying the nerves responsible for erections.

Cryosurgery

Cryosurgery, or the technique of using extreme cold to treat tumors in cancer, can have permanent negative effects. When the prostate gland is frozen the nerve bundles controlling erections can often be permanently damaged.

Treating erectile dysfunction after prostate cancer treatment

Viagra is an oral erectile dysfunction medication that works by promoting increased blood flow to produce an erection when the penis is manually stimulated, and can be obtained through a reputable online pharmacy. Viagra does not improve sex drive, only erections. Studies have shown that men with erectile dysfunction after prostatectomy respond well to Viagra if the nerve bundles on both sides of the prostate are intact. But Viagra is normally not effective if one or both nerve bundles have been damaged.

Other possible solutions to helping a man regain his facility to produce an erection after prostate treatment include penile medication injections, use of a vacuum constriction or vacuum erection device (which is very costly), or a penile implant, a prosthetic device surgically implanted inside the penis.

The bottom line is that a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test for prostate cancer is recommended annually for men over 50, or even earlier for men with a family history of prostate cancer. Without our health we’ve got nothing, and nothing makes a man feel like less of a man than the inability to perform. So you need to take care of yourself, and know all the medical options that exist for you in today’s modern world.