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Prospective controlled assessment of men’s sexual function changes following Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate for treatment of benign prostate hyperplasia

  • Urology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Objectives

To assess how much Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) is detrimental on men sexuality.

Methods

Between January and December 2013, all patients presented for BPH surgery were assessed using IIEF-15 (international index of erectile function-15) and Ej-MSHQ (ejaculatory domain-male sexual health questionnaire). Changes in men’s sexuality following HoLEP in relation to control procedure were prospectively assessed. Intervention group included legible consecutive patients treated by HoLEP. Control group included legible patients presented for diagnostic cystoscopy. Changes in IIEF-15, its subdomains and Ej-MSHQ scores were compared between HoLEP group and control.

Results

At one year 80 and 70 subjects were included for final analysis following HoLEP and control groups, respectively. Regardless of the baseline erectile function (EF/IIEF) score, there was an increase in EF score similar to control following HoLEP (P = 0.6). However, among subjects with normal preoperative EF (score >25), in comparison with control, there was similar decline in EF score following HoLEP (P = 0.07). Regarding the orgasm domain, there was a significant reduction in orgasm perception following HoLEP in relation to control (P = 0.01). Patients reported desire changes, intercourse satisfaction and overall satisfaction scores similar to control following HoLEP. Using Ej-MSHQ score, there was no statistically significant difference between HoLEP and control groups in percentage of subjects reporting ejaculatory dysfunction at baseline. However, at 12 months, there was statistically significant more ejaculatory dysfunction reporting following HoLEP. The most common ejaculatory abnormality was volume abnormality. Orgasm perception was significantly decreased among subjects with newly reported ejaculatory dysfunction (5.3 ± 1.4 vs. 8.6 ± 1.3, P = 0.001).

Conclusions

Controlled short-term assessment of HoLEP showed potential negative impact on EF in patients with normal preoperative EF. Apart from orgasm perception, sexual function changes following HoLEP were similar to control. High prevalence of postoperative ejaculatory dysfunction following HoLEP remained notable finding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Prostate Unit, Urology and Nephrology Center, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt

    Ahmed M. Elshal, Ahmed El-Assmy, Ramy Mekkawy, Diaa-Eldin Taha, Ahmed R. El-Nahas, Mahmoud Laymon, Hamdy El-Kappany & El-Housseiny Ibrahiem

Authors
  1. Ahmed M. Elshal
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  2. Ahmed El-Assmy
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  3. Ramy Mekkawy
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  4. Diaa-Eldin Taha
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  5. Ahmed R. El-Nahas
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  6. Mahmoud Laymon
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  7. Hamdy El-Kappany
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  8. El-Housseiny Ibrahiem
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Correspondence to Ahmed El-Assmy.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in our study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Elshal, A.M., El-Assmy, A., Mekkawy, R. et al. Prospective controlled assessment of men’s sexual function changes following Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate for treatment of benign prostate hyperplasia. Int Urol Nephrol 49, 1741–1749 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-017-1649-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-017-1649-0

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