PROSTATE CANCER TREATMENT
Enlargement of the prostate, whether due to cancer or to the benign swelling that occurs so commonly in aging men has, until recently, been most often treated by the operation in which pieces of tissue are removed with an instrument that is passed up the urethra, the urinary passage in the penis. Called transurethral resection (TUR), this is easier than surgically removing the entire prostate through the lower abdomen, an operation known as prostatectomy. Furthermore, until now, TUR was much less likely than prostatectomy to cause impotence because it does not injure nerves supplying the penis. Prostatectomy, as usually performed, did injure those nerves, thereby often causing permanent impotence. Understandably then, even though cure of prostate cancer is less likely with TUR than with prostatectomy, TUR has been the more popular procedure.
Because it spares the nerves of the penis, this new operation is most unlikely to cause lasting impotence. (For some weeks or months after prostate surgery of any kind, it must be understood, all men will experience at least some degree of impotence). Another advantage of the new prostatectomy surgery, which is performed through the lower abdomen, is the completeness with which it removes all tumor tissue. With these positive features, it is likely to become the treatment of choice.
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