Viagra Helps after Prostate Treatment
February 25, 2007

Men say their sexual function and interest after prostate-cancer treatment is buoyed by Viagra-type drug therapy.
Because the prostate gland lies close to critical nerves and blood vessels, men who were sexually active at the time of the treatment frequently report impotence or erectile dysfunction after radiation or surgery for prostate cancer.

"We wanted to determine if the efficacy of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (drugs such as Viagra, Levitra or Cialis) is any different following radical prostatectomy versus radiation therapy for patients with prostate cancer," Dr. Irwin Lee, a house officer in radiation oncology at the University of Michigan hospitals in Ann Arbor, said at last weekend's Prostate Cancer Symposium in Kissimmee, Fla.

"Following radiation therapy or prostatectomy there is a significant improvement in the adjusted sexual function and sexual interest scores associated with the initiation of the drugs," he said.

Lee mined the Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urologic Research Endeavor (CaPSURE) database, identifying 1087 men who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1995 and 2003. The men completed the health-related quality of life assessments prior to their treatment and two years after treatments.

The research team noted that over a two-year period the sexual function and sexual interest of the men in this study improved -- in fact, men who had surgery reported a 50-percent increase in sexual function and interest since their surgery.

Source: http://www.upi.com