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 Following men for up to two years after surgery, researchers found
the patients' penises were shortest a few days after their
procedures. Penis lengths generally returned to normal after one
year, however.
The study's lead author said the research was started after
encountering a few patients complaining of penis shortening after
prostate removal, which is known medically as a radical
prostatectomy.
Past reports mentioned shortened penises after prostate removal, but
the results were a bit different, said Dr. Yoshifumi Kadono, of
Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine Science.
"Therefore, we started our study to obtain our data," he told
Reuters Health.
For the new study, the researchers measured the penis lengths of 102
men before having their prostates removed and then at 10 days after
surgery and again one, three, six, nine, 12, 18 and 24 months later.
The men's stretched penis lengths were shortest 10 days after
surgery, when measurements were an average of about 0.10 centimeters
(0.04 inches) shorter than before prostate removal.
By the one-year mark, the men's penises generally returned to
original lengths, which averaged about 11.72 centimeters (4.61
inches), according to the results in BJU International.
The researchers wanted to know what caused the shortening and if any
particular variable, such as the size of a man's prostate gland,
would predict which men would experience this effect.
Based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)of the patients, the
researchers noticed some internal changes. Specifically, the portion
of the urethra directly below the bladder moves up into the body
after surgery, but moves back down after some time.
"However, further research is needed to elucidate long-term changes
of (penis length) with respect to the influence of sex hormones or
changes in penile blood flow after (radical prostatectomy)," said
Kadono.
The new findings may be useful for men who have low-to-moderate self
esteem tied to their perceived lost penis length after their
surgery, he added.
The findings may not represent reality for all men, however.
Most men will have some penis length loss after surgery and
sometimes that will be permanent, said Dr. John Mulhall, who is
director of the Male Sexual and Reproductive Medicine Program at
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
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"If you have documental length loss at six months, then you
shouldn’t expect that to improve at 12 months," said Mulhall, who
wasn't involved in the new study.
He told Reuters Health that loss of penis length can be attributed
to two issues. For example, muscle contractions may pull the penis
into the body, but that relaxes over time. Men may also experience
after surgery the loss of erection tissue.
"Once that muscle degenerates, it’s gone," he told Reuters Health.
Dr. Drogo Montague, who wasn't involved in the new study but often
treats urological issues in men after prostate removal, also said
some penises may appear shorter after surgery due to scar tissue
that builds up when men have sex with partial erections.
The patients included in the new study would generally be considered
to be normal weight, noted Montague, who is a professor of surgery
at the Center for Genitourinary Reconstruction Glickman Urological
and Kidney Institute Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
"So these findings won’t necessary be generalizable because of the
prevalence of obesity," he told Reuters Health.
Mulhall said medications like Viagra and Cialis - known as PDE5
inhibitors -are shown in previous research to guard against lost
penile length after prostate removal.
In addition to PDE5 inhibitor, Montague said men can get prostheses
and other interventions to strengthen their penises.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2lctQla BJU International, online February 8,
2017.
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