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Preoperative counseling for penile implant surgery: standardized approach in a high-volume center of excellence

International Journal of Impotence Research (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Shared-decision making is crucial in today’s society. Although penile prosthesis surgery has had significant improvements regarding technique and materials over the last few decades - with the highest satisfaction rate in erectile dysfunction treatment at present time -, dissatisfaction can occur because of bad preoperative counseling with the creation of unrealistic expectations. This paper includes a small narrative review regarding the most important preoperative variables to be discussed in the preoperative setting. Literature search was conducted in December 2023 using PubMed. Additionally, our own standardized flowchart for preoperative counseling was added. The most important aspects of preoperative counseling include a description of the pathophysiology of erectile dysfunction as well as alternative treatments. Information should be given about which implant categories exist. Additionally, some information about the procedure itself as well as the financial aspect should be communicated. The most frequent and most important complications should be illustrated. Last but not least, the patient’s expectations should be evaluated. Our added standardized flowchart with figure acts as a practical guideline for professionals as well as for patients. Our standardized approach for preoperative counseling emphasizes reasonable postoperative expectations aiming for a well-informed patient with high postoperative satisfaction. Our general strategy is to underpromise and overdeliver.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Urology, Jessa Hospital, Hasselt, Belgium

    Andries Van Huele, Mariet Lenaers & Koenraad Van Renterghem

  2. Dept. of Urology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium

    Andries Van Huele

  3. Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium

    Koenraad Van Renterghem

  4. Dept. of Urology, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Koenraad Van Renterghem

Authors
  1. Andries Van Huele
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  2. Mariet Lenaers
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  3. Koenraad Van Renterghem
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Contributions

Conception and design: AVH, KVR; Administrative support: ML, KVR; Provision of study materials or patients: ML, KVR; Collection and assembly of data: AVH, ML, KVR; Data analysis and interpretation: AVH; Manuscript writing: AVH, KVR ; Final approval of manuscript: AVH, ML, KVR.

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Correspondence to Andries Van Huele.

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Van Huele, A., Lenaers, M. & Renterghem, K.V. Preoperative counseling for penile implant surgery: standardized approach in a high-volume center of excellence. Int J Impot Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-024-00828-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-024-00828-3

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