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Application of Erection Hardness Score as a Diagnostic Tool to Assess Erectile Function Recovery after Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy

Volume 3 - Issue 1

**Boyan A Stoykov*¹, Nikolay H Kolev¹, Vladislav R Dunev¹, Pencho P Genov² and Manish Sachdeva¹**

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- ¹Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: Rameswari Poornima Janardanan, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Received: February 22, 2018; Published: March 08, 2018

DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2018.03.000830

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to characterize time-dependent recovery of erectile function following robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) using the erection hardness score (EHS). This study included 42 patients with localized prostate cancer (PC) undergoing RARP without neoadjuvant hormonal therapy. The erectile function of each patient was assessed based on the international index of erectile function-5 (IIEF- 5) and EHS at the baseline and on every visit after RARP. In this series, potency was defined as the ability to have an erection sufficient for intercourse, corresponding to EHS ≥ 3, while patients with EHS ≥ 2 were regarded as those with erectile function. Of these 42 patients, 15 and 27 underwent bilateral and unilateral nerve-sparing procedures, respectively. A proportional increase in the IIEF-5 score according to EHS was noted at 12 months after RARP. At 3, 6 and 12 months after RARP, the recovery rates of erectile function were 22.6, 55.3 and 74.8 %, respectively, while those of potency were 11.7, 23.5 and 32.3 %, respectively. The results we obtained show that the EHS could be successfully used instead of IIEF-5 to assess post-operative EF recovery. Of the several factors examined, the age, preoperative outcome of IIEF-5 and the nerve-sparing procedure were identified as major independent predictors of EF recovery.

Keywords: Prostate cancer; Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy; Erectile function; Erection hardness score

Abbreviations: RARP: Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy; EHS: Erection Hardness Score; PC: Prostate Cancer