Actas Urol Esp 2006 Feb; 30(2): 159-69 (Read article online)

Atienza Merino G

The erectile dysfunction is a pathology that, with different degrees of intensity, affects nearly the 20% of the spanish adult men. The treatment is usually performed in stages, reserving the penile prosthesis for when other previous treatments have failed. The aim of this work is to evaluate, according to the state of present knowledge, the effectiveness and security of the penile prosthesis for the treatment of the erectile dysfunction. With this purpose 52 articles were selected, observing a 5 years prosthesis survival of 78-91% and a 3-8% of surgical complications. Mechanical failures and infection percentages were smaller in the semi-rigid prosthesis that in the inflatable ones, with high levels of postoperative satisfaction in patients as well as in their couples, even greater than in other treatments available at the present time. The penile prosthesis implantation must be reserved for the organic erectile dysfunction when previous treatments have failed, evaluating the risk-benefit relation and informing the patient of the results that are hoped to be obtained and of the possible complications that can arise. In view of the great concern of our society with the erectile function and the availability of effective drugs, an increase in the demand of penile prosthesis implantation is predictable in those patients highly motivated, but refractory to the less invasive treatments.