Does androgen suppression plus radiation therapy lead to changes in penile length in prostate cancer patients?
Arthur L Burnett
Correspondence Department of Urology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287-2411, USA
Email aburnett@jhmi.edu
This article has no abstract so we have provided the first paragraph of the full text.
The study by Haliloglu et al. adds to the body of literature regarding possible limitations of our best-intentioned prostate cancer treatments. Several reports have appeared that acknowledge the occurrence of penile deformities and dimensional changes following radical prostatectomy. These reports have suggested that as many as 48% of men experience considerable penile shortening,1 and as many as 41% develop penile fibrotic changes as a consequence of the surgery.2 Besides these macroscopic changes, evidence exists on the microscopic level that penile fibrosis might occur in all individuals who undergo radical prostatectomy.3 Along with the acknowledgment of these adverse effects, there is the implication that patients who undergo radical prostatectomy should be informed of these possible complications before beginning treatment. The authors suggest that this observation and management approach might well be broadened to include nonsurgical forms of prostate cancer treatment.
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