Impotence is also called as erectile dysfunction. It is the inability to have an erection or an act of satisfactory sexual intercourse. Erectile dysfunction does not happen because of prostate cancer but can happen due to the treatments for the disease. The treatments for prostate cancer are:

• Surgery to remove the entire prostate gland
• Radiation therapy whether by external beam or radioactive implants
• Cryosurgery a process of freezing cancerous tissues
• Hormone therapy

All the above-mentioned treatments for prostate cancer can cause erectile dysfunction or impotence. Some treatments cause impotence sooner than the others.

Can impotence occur after the treatment?

Surgery
Some degree of erectile dysfunction happens just after the surgery to remove the prostate even if the doctors try to spare the nerve that controls erections. The degree of erectile dysfunction depends on the type of surgery, stage of cancer and the surgeon’s operating skills.

If the nerves are spared during the surgery, recovery from erectile dysfunction is possible within a year of the procedure. Recovery of the erectile function after a non-nerve-sparing surgery is difficult but is possible. The use of vacuum devices and drugs like Viagra improve the quality of erection and normalize sexual function.

If a man is able to achieve erection then he may not lose the ability to achieve orgasm but these orgasms are dry with very little or no ejaculation. This may result in infertility. This may not be of great concern because generally this condition is diagnosed in older men.

Radiotherapy
Commencement of erectile dysfunction we followed by a radiation therapy. It is very slow and gradual. It usually begins after about 6 months of the treatment. The most common long-term side effect of Radiation therapy is the loss of erectile function. The side effects may decrease if very sophisticated modes of treatments are used.

Hormone therapy
Erectile dysfunction may occur approximately 2 to 4 weeks after hormone therapy has started. The desire for sex is also decreased because of hormone therapy.

What is the prostate impotence treatment?
Treatment options available for erectile dysfunction or impotence for men who have received treatment for prostate cancer are

• Oral medications such as Viagra, Cialis, or Levitra
• Intracavernous injection therapy- These are injections of medicines infused into the penis before the intercourse.
• Use of vacuum constriction device which helps in drawing blood into the penis to cause an erection.
• Special medicines are taken prior to intercourse who support erection
• Penile implants

How effective are oral erectile dysfunction medications?
Drugs used after the surgery to cure erectile dysfunction give a result of 60% to 70% regaining the erection. Around 50% to 60% men are reported to regain erections with Viagra following the radiation therapy. There is hardly any change in the erectile function after Hormone therapy if anyone is on oral drugs.

How effective is the injection therapy?
If oral drugs and Viagra fail to give an erection, injection into the penis can be an effective form of treatment for men who have undergone the surgery or who have received radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Mostly 60% to 80% men regain erections after the use of injection therapy. The known side effects of injection therapy are occasional pain and the development of scar tissues in the penis.

Other prostate impotence treatments
If oral drugs and injections fail or a man is unwilling or unable to use the above therapies, there are other treatments which can support him, such as:

• Vacuum constriction device: In this treatment, a cylinder is placed over the penis and air is pumped out of it. This draws blood into the penis and causes an erection. The erection can be maintained by slipping a band from the cylinder onto the base of the penis. The band can stay on the penis for 30 minutes giving an erection. These devices can be effective but uncomfortable for men to use it, especially who have been treated for surgery. Having a band placed on the base of the penis is very uncomfortable and undesirable feeling for the men.
• Penile Suppositories: The patient for this treatment needs to place a suppository in the urethra or the urinary tube using a plastic applicator. This suppository contains a drug called Alprostadil which travels to the erection chambers, relaxes the muscles there allowing the blood to flow into the penis. This treatment works in about only 30% of men.
• Penile implant: This treatment can only be considered by patients who have had erectile dysfunction for over a year following cancer treatment and nonsurgical therapy has either failed or is unacceptable. This is an effective form of therapy for many men where an implant is done but does not require any operation to place the implant into the penis. Surgery can cause problems like infection or mechanical failure. This would call for the removal of the implant however, this is the most successful mode of treatment for erectile dysfunction and has a success rate of 95%. Most of the men and their partners are very satisfied with these devices and mode of treatment.

After consulting the doctor and depending on your condition, you can go for the best prostate impotence treatment.