Side Effects of Prostate Surgery

: What are the side effects of prostate surgery?

The side effects of surgery are significant. You're investing a lot up front with the highest risks up front for the potential long-term benefit, 10, 15, 20 years down the road. Because the nerves that cause erections travel right alongside the prostate, there's the potential that those nerves could be injured. If that happens, you'll have either less erections, as far as quality or no erections at all.

With new techniques we can actually now preserve those nerves so that men have a much higher likelihood of having normal erections, and with the medications that are now available, the combination of the group surgery techniques and medications, sexual dysfunction really should not be a major concern for prostate cancer patients.