Background: The objective of this study is to evaluate efficacy of en bloc cystourethrectomy with preservation of potency in patients with bladder carcinoma.
Methods: A total of nine patients underwent this procedure in 1991 and 1994. Following 2 cases of 1991 who were confirmed to recover potency and had no recurrence in the pelvis during 2-year follow up as a preliminary study, 7 cases underwent the same procedure in 1994. Erectile function was measured by the snap gauge band.
Results: Six of the 9 patients recovered erection adequate for sexual activity and 4 of them have practiced sexual intercourse. The remaining 3 patients experienced mild erection but inadequate. One of them failed to accomplish adequate erection because of perineal pain at erection. Three to eighteen months after surgery, the first erection was experienced. Surgical margins were pathologically negative in each of the 9 specimens. By the present, all of the 9 patients survive with no evidence of disease.
Conclusion: The potency-sparing en bloc cystourethrectomy appears to preserve potency on the level comparable to the two-stage potency-sparing cystourethrectomy combined with delayed urethrectomy.