Diagnosis, treatment and prevention of penile prosthesis infection

The implantation of inflatable penile prostheses for the treatment of erectile dysfunction continues to be widely practiced in the United States and internationally. As third-line therapy for erectile dysfunction, the numbers of implants continue to rise as the population of men treated for erectile dysfunction increases. Complications of penile prosthesis implantation continued to decline as mechanical malfunctions have decreased as a result of re-engineering inflatable penile prostheses. Inflatable penile prostheses from both available vendors continue to be reliable, effective methods for restoring erectile function with high satisfaction rates. The most troublesome complication of these prostheses, however, is not mechanical but rather that of prosthesis infection. Prosthesis infections may result in further surgery, loss of penile tissue, and even the inability to replace penile prosthesis. While standard sterile technique perioperative antibiotics and careful surgical procedures continue to be the cornerstone of penile prosthesis infection avoidance, newer designs of penile prostheses for antibiotic coating have resulted in an improvement in the prevalence and incidents of penile prosthesis infection. For those patients in whom penile prostheses become infected despite adequate prophylaxis, newer techniques of salvage have demonstrated increasing success. Once and still the most dreaded complication of penile prosthesis implantation, prothesis infections can now be avoided by perioperative preparation and antibiotics as well as antibiotic-coated penile prostheses. Treatment of penile prosthesis infections once associated with severe loss of function can often be successful with modern salvage techniques. Implanting urologists must be familiar prophylaxis, avoidance, and treatment of penile prosthesis infections.