Many recover erectile, urinary function 3 years after prostatectomy, study confirms

By Reuters Staff

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients with urinary incontinence (UI) or erectile dysfunction (ED) 12 months after radical prostatectomy (RP) have a good chance of functional recovery by 36 months, new research confirms.

"Patients with UI at 12 months after RP can be counseled that their chance of recovery of continence is almost 39% and 50% within the next 12 and 24 months, respectively, and rises to 48% and 57% if a maximum of 2 pads/24 hours are used after 12 months," Dr. Derya Tilki of University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany, and colleagues report. "For those suffering from ED 12 months after RP, the respective rates are 31% and 37%."

The findings were published online October 13 in European Urology.

Past studies have shown little long-term improvement in RP outcomes, the researchers note, but a recent study from a large North American center found patients with UI or ED at 12 months had a 59% and 40% chance, respectively, of long-term recovery.

To replicate the study at a European center, Dr. Tilki and colleagues looked at nearly 13,000 patients treated at their clinic from 2007 to 2013. One year after the surgery, 13.2% had UI. By 24 months, 10.5% of patients remained incontinent, while 9.1% had UI at 36 months.

Prevalence of ED was 48.8% at one year, 40.2% at two years, and 36.4% at three years.

The strongest predictor of a patient's longer-term recovery from UI or ED, on multivariate analysis, was the degree of UI or ED the patient had at 12 months, the researchers found.

"Our data confirm the high chance of late recovery of functional outcome recently reported by Lee et al and indicate that patients with moderate UI or ED at 12 months after RP have a good chance of recovery," Dr. Tilki and colleagues conclude.

Dr. Tilki did not respond to an interview request by press time.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2eMHCql

Eur Urol 2016.

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