Counseling on sexual side effects from TURP.

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Sexual Medicine
• Surgical Outcomes

Background:

• Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) can lead to sexual dysfunction.
• Counseling on these risks is crucial for patient informed consent.
• Variations in counseling practices between different urology specialists and TURP techniques are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare preoperative sexual dysfunction risk counseling between sexual medicine experts (SME) and general urologists.
• To assess counseling differences related to monopolar/bipolar TURP (MBT) versus laser TURP (LT).

Main Methods:

• An electronic survey was distributed to members of the American Urologic Association and the Sexual Medicine Society of North America.
• 260 urologists completed the survey, detailing counseling practices for ejaculatory disorder (EjD), erectile dysfunction (ED), stricture, and incontinence.
• Subset analysis compared SMEs and general urologists.

Main Results:

• Over 90% of practitioners "almost always" counsel about EjD, with rates varying between MBT and LT.
• 62% (MBT) and 60% (LT) "almost always" counsel about ED.
• No significant difference in counseling rates for incontinence, strictures, EjD, or ED was found between SMEs and general urologists.

Conclusions:

• Urologists recognize the sexual side effects of LUTS/BPH treatments.
• While EjD counseling is common, its incidence differs between MBT and LT.
• ED counseling occurs less frequently than EjD counseling, and specialization in sexual medicine does not improve counseling rates regardless of TURP technique.