Prostate Cancer Treatment After Penile Implant Surgery
Men who have radical prostatectomy or radiation treatment can have erectile dysfunction, which may be treated with an implanted penile prosthesis. But do things ever develop in the opposite sequence? Do men with penile prostheses go on to have prostate cancer treatments?
This question was posed on a recent thread on Research Gate, an online community of researchers. Specifically, a urologist from Buenos Aires, Argentina asked the following question: "Does somebody have experience with radiotherapy for prostate cancer in patients with penile prothesis (AMS 700)? Are there are any contraindication of radiotherapy with a penile prosthesis?"
His question was answered by Bruce Greene, a radiation oncologist from Colorado, and Francois Eid, a urologist from New York. Both doctors indicated experience with patients who had had penile prosthesis surgery followed by radiation therapy. Both replied that there was no contraindication to prostate radiation therapy in men who have had a penile implant.
Dr. Eid, who runs a high volume penile implant practice, went further and replied that there was also no contraindication to radical prostatectomy or hormone therapy after placement of a penile prosthesis. He added that the materials in both the AMS (now Boston Scientific) and Coloplast brands of penile implant are compatible with diagnostic imaging technologies used in pelvic MRIs. His only note of caution was to not treat men with penile prostheses with penile cavernous injections such as Caverject and Trimix. This would seem obvious given that such treatments for erectile dysfunction would not be effective or necessary when there is a penile prosthesis.
Surgeo Blog is not aware of any scientific publication on radiation therapy or other prostate treatments after penile implant surgery. If you are aware of any, please let us know. Thank you.
