Prostate Cancer Patients Undergoing Robotic Surgery Show Potential for Erectile Dysfunction Rehabilitation After Surgery

Samsung Seoul Hospital Department of Urology Professors Jeon Seong-su and Jeong Jae-hoon Team
'Udenafil' One Pill a Day... Confirmed Effectiveness in Improving Erectile Dysfunction

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwanju] Research results have emerged that can reduce the biggest concern of prostate cancer patients, 'postoperative erectile dysfunction.'

The research team led by Jeon Seongsu and Jeong Jaehun from the Department of Urology at Samsung Seoul Hospital announced on the 22nd that taking the erectile dysfunction medication (Udenafil 75mg) 'once a day' after prostate cancer surgery helps with erectile function rehabilitation. These research results were recently published in the international male health journal 'World J Mens Health.'

It is known that 4 out of 10 patients who underwent robotic prostate cancer surgery experience persistent sexual dysfunction. It can take up to two years to recover erectile function, causing significant anxiety for patients about surgery.

This study is the first to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Udenafil administration for erectile function rehabilitation. The clinical trial involved seven university hospitals in Korea and was conducted over eight months from July 2017 to March last year. It included 99 prostate cancer patients aged 20 to 70 with normal or mild erectile dysfunction who underwent robotic prostatectomy and had erectile function problems with an International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-EF) score of 14 or less.

The IIEF-EF is an index scored through surveys assessing erectile ability and sexual satisfaction to determine the severity of erectile dysfunction symptoms and the effect of medication, with a normal score being above 26 out of 30. The research team divided the patients into two groups: the Udenafil administration group (63 patients) and the placebo group (27 patients). They visited the clinic at 4, 8, 20, and 32 weeks post-surgery according to the clinical trial schedule to analyze improvements in IIEF-EF scores.

The results showed that at 4 weeks post-surgery, the proportion of patients with an IIEF-EF improvement rate of 25% or more was 82.5% in the Udenafil group and 62.9% in the placebo group, indicating better improvement in the Udenafil group. Additionally, at 32 weeks post-treatment, 36.5% of the Udenafil group and 13.0% of the placebo group had IIEF-EF erectile domain scores of 22 or higher, showing a significant difference favoring the Udenafil group.

Professor Jeon Seongsu stated, "Robotic surgery for localized prostate cancer is a surgical method that can preserve the neurovascular bundles as much as possible, but no matter how well the neurovascular bundles are preserved, postoperative erectile dysfunction cannot be avoided. If sexual function before surgery is good, appropriate rehabilitation treatment after surgery will greatly help in recovering erectile function and improving quality of life."

Meanwhile, the Department of Urology at Samsung Seoul Hospital achieved 10,000 robotic surgeries last August and recently ranked first in Korea and third worldwide in the urologic cancer field according to Newsweek magazine's survey.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.