Penile prosthesis: Patient satisfaction, use and preference for malleable vs inflatable

Efficacy and safety of malleable penile prosthesis compared to inflatable penile prosthesis in erectile dysfunction patients

INTRODUCTION

Erectile dysfunction can cause self-withdrawal and decreased quality of life. Patients who do not respond to pharmacological therapy and other conservative treatments are urged to undergo penile prosthesis implantation. Malleable penile prosthesis was the first prosthesis developed, but then inflatable penile prosthesis was developed to give a more natural erection. There is no meta-analysis comparing inflatable and malleable penile prostheses in terms of safety and efficacy. This study is conducted to evaluate patient and partner satisfaction, ease of use, mechanical failure, and infection rate in patients who underwent penile prosthesis implantation.

METHOD

This meta-analysis followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) protocols. Five eligible studies were included from Pubmed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and SemanticScholar databases.

RESULT

In this study, patient and partner satisfaction are significantly better (OR 3.39, 95% CI 1.66-6.93, p = 0.0008) (OR 2.32, 95% CI 1.75-3.08, p < 0.00001). Mechanical failure is also significantly higher in inflatable penile prostheses (OR 5.60, 95% CI 2.02-15.53, p = 0.0009). There is no significant difference in terms of ease of use and infection rate in inflatable or malleable penile prostheses.

CONCLUSIONS

This study concluded that inflatable penile prosthesis is better in terms of patient and partner satisfaction, but mechanical failures occur more frequently in this type of prosthesis.

Usefulness of magnetic resonance imaging in the postsurgical assessment of patients with inflatable penile prostheses

OBJECTIVE

To describe the types of penile prostheses and their components, to review the appropriate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition protocol, and to describe the normal imaging findings and possible complications in patients with inflatable penile implants.

CONCLUSION

Three-piece inflatable penile prostheses are the last link in the treatment chain for erectile dysfunction. They can develop complications, which are classified as non-infectious related to the surgical technique, infectious, or due to mechanical failure of the device. MRI is the most appropriate imaging technique for the postsurgical evaluation of penile prostheses. Images are acquired in three planes using sequences with high spatial resolution, first with the prosthesis at rest and then with the prosthesis activated.