Overcoming A Side Effect Of Prostate Cancer Surgery

Overcoming A Side Effect Of Prostate Cancer Surgery by Wendy Mitchell

According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is one of the most treatable forms of cancer, with an extremely high survival rate--especially when it's caught early. That's the good news.

The bad news is that treatment for prostate cancer often leaves patients with an annoying side effect: urinary incontinence. This condition affects five million American men.

Why Does This Happen?

In order to remove the cancer, parts or all of the tissues that help urine flow may need to be removed. The rate of incontinence after radical prostatectomy ranges from 1 percent to 31 percent, influenced by such factors as age, general health and the amount of prostate and surrounding tissue removed during surgery.

While men often experience incontinence immediately following surgery, the leakage usually stops within weeks or a few months. When incontinence persists beyond a few months, you should consult a urologist.

Treatment Options

While moderate to severe cases of male incontinence have been treated surgically for years, the majority of incontinent men--those only mildly incontinent--have, until recently, had few attractive medical options. Fortunately, doctors are now able to offer a viable spectrum of incontinence solutions.

For example, the AdVance Male Sling is a safe and effective surgical solution for stress urinary incontinence in men, which is often experienced as an unavoidable result of prostate cancer surgery. Implanting the device--developed by American Medical Systems--is a minimally invasive, outpatient procedure that can be performed in just 20 to 30 minutes.

"AdVance represents a paradigm shift in the treatment of male incontinence," explain Drs. Christian Gozzi and Peter Rehder, both urologists at the University of Innsbruck, "giving physicians the opportunity to provide real incontinence solutions to even more prostate cancer survivors."

To those suffering from urinary incontinence (and their partners), it can feel like you're missing out on the best that life has to offer. The key thing to remember is that nearly every case of incontinence is treatable; there are solutions that can help improve your quality of life dramatically.

To find a prosthetic urologist, visit www.malecontinence.com or call the AMS Patient Liaison at (800) 529-5744. Men now have a number of treatment options for the problem of urinary incontinence. Note to Editors: September is Prostate Health month. Bladder Control Week is in November.

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