Prognostic factors for erectile function recovery in patients after radical prostatectomy

Introduction. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of young patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. Therefore, it is important to maximize the preservation of erectile and sexual function for this category of patients after treatment with prostate cancer. Materials and methods. This article presents an analysis of data from 117 patients after radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer 6 months after surgery. We evaluated the effect of surgical access, the use of nerve-saving techniques (NST), and other factors on the restoration of erectile function (EF). Results. In addition to the younger age of patients at the time of surgery, as well as the use of nerve-sparing techniques, predictors of better erectile function after surgery include a higher level of erectile function before surgery on the IIEF-EF scale, as well as surgical access - we have revealed the advantage of robotic-assisted surgery on the prostate gland. Discussion. Currently, many scientific publications are devoted to identifying factors affecting the recovery of EF after radical prostatectomy, while the authors emphasize the positive effect of the relatively young age of the patient, preserved erectile function before surgery and the absence of concomitant diseases on the restoration of EF. Our study also confirms the importance of the RP method: the best results in the rehabilitation of sexual life were obtained when performing a robot-assisted radical prostatectomy and using a nerve-sparing technique. Conclusions. Further monitoring of patients is required to determine the dependence of the restoration of erectile function on the time elapsed after surgery, as well as to assess the role of risk factors at a later date after surgery.