A study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found it possible to approximate men s level of sexual function after treatment for prostate cancer. The latest study used a number of variables, including factors as basic as age, race, and body mass index, as well as quality of sexual life beforehand, to successfully predict post-treatment erectile function in 10 to 70 percent of the over 1,000 men involved. Other major variables included the type of treatment: surgical, radiation, or implanted seeds (brachytherapy).
While the results are not heartening, in that fewer than half the men who reported satisfactory sexual function before cancer had regained it two years after treatment, the possibility of predicting these post-treatment effects should allow men to have clearer expectations. However, because the men weren t randomly assigned to one of the three treatments, the data don t indicate whether one treatment is better than another.
The real message of this story is that men should be told prior to deciding whether to undergo treatment and, of course, prior to selecting a treatment that their likelihood of regaining full sexual function is not high, said ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. Many men who had been eager to get treatment for what is often slowly-progressive, or even dormant, prostate cancer might think twice after hearing this information.
