The Effect on Erection and Orgasm of Cystectomy, Prostatectomy and Vesiculectomy for Cancer of the Bladder: A Clinical and Electromyographic Study

Forty-three men who had been subjected to cystectomy and concomitant prostatectomy, vesiculectomy and urethrectomy were interviewed about their pre-operative and post-operative sexual activities at a mean of 3 (range 1 to 8) years after operation. Twenty-eight of the 38 men (74%) who had been sexually active continued to have some form of sexual activity, 21 of them achieving orgasm. Only 3 men had penile erection; 2 of them had been subjected to prostatectomy and 1 to prostatic resection. One of these men treated by prostatectomy had also had urethrectomy. Electromyographic registration from the striated external urethral sphincter, the bulbocavernosus muscle and the levator ani muscle showed normal duration of muscular contractions and length of interval between contractions after operation. The pattern of impulses during organs did not differ from that of normal men.