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After prostate removal for cancer, men sometimes
complain to their doctors that their penis shrank
but following men for up to two years after surgery,
researchers found the patients' penises were
shortest a few days after their procedures and they
generally returned to normal after one year.
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.
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.
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.
The loss of penis length can be attributed to two
issues: muscle contractions may pull the penis into
the body, but that relaxes over time, but men may
also experience after surgery the loss of erection
tissue, and once that muscle degenerates, it’s gone.
For more information
BJUI
Changes in penile length after radical
prostatectomy: investigation of the underlying
anatomical mechanism
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