Viagra aids some prostate surgery patients
Tuesday December 8 1:48 PM ET
NEW YORK, Dec 08 (Reuters Health) -- Viagra can effectively treat erectile dysfunction in men who have had prostate surgery if the operation left certain nerves intact, according to US researchers.
The research team tested the drug on 28 men who had undergone prostatectomy, removal of the prostate gland. Viagra worked in 80% of 15 men who had undergone bilateral nerve-sparing procedures, but in none of the men who had undergone other types of operations where the nerves to the penis were cut. The report is published in the current issue of Urology.
''These findings should encourage urologists to continue to perform and perfect the nerve-sparing approach to give their patients the best chance of successful treatment for impotence after prostatectomy,'' write the researchers, led by Dr. Craig D. Zippe of The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio.
Zippe and colleagues tested Viagra, a drug that results in increased blood flow to the penis, on 28 men who had undergone prostatectomy roughly a year earlier. Fifteen of the men had had bilateral nerve-sparing surgery, which left both sets of penile nerves intact. Another 3 had had unilateral nerve sparing surgery, which left 1 set intact. The remaining 10 had had non-nerve sparing surgery.
Zippe and colleagues interviewed the men and their spouses both before the men tried Viagra, also known as sildenafil citrate, and after the men had taken the drug.
Of the men who had had bilateral nerve sparing surgery, 80% had erections sufficient for intercourse after taking 1 to 3 doses of Viagra. Moreover, 80% of the spouses of the men who had had bilateral nerve sparing surgery reported being satisfied with intercourse after their partners took Viagra, the researchers report.
In contrast, none of the men who had erectile dysfunction after either unilateral nerve sparing surgery or non-nerve sparing surgery responded to the drug, according to Zippe and colleagues.
Since all of the men in the study had undergone surgery about a year prior to starting Viagra, it is ''quite possible that earlier initiation of sildenafil might increase the positive response rate,'' in men who have had either unilateral or non-nerve-sparing prostatectomy, Zippe and colleagues speculate.
The most commonly reported side effects associated with Viagra were headaches and changes in color vision, ''but none of the patients discontinued the medication because of side effects,'' the researchers report.
SOURCE: Urology 1998;52:963-966.
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