Current Status and Future of Penile Prosthesis Surgery

Abstract

Since the implantation of rib cartilage for reproducing penile rigidity in a fashion similar to the os penis or baculum of lower animals in the 1930s and 40s, surgeons and urologists have pursued the implantation of penile prostheses for the production of erections satisfactory for normal coitus. The development of newer synthetic materials associated with the space program in the 1950s and 1960s allowed advances in human prosthetic devices to include the treatment of chronic erectile impotence. The silicone-based prosthetic materials introduced during that time revolutionized the science of human prosthetics and, subsequently, urologic penile prosthetic devices. The era of modern penile prosthetic surgery began with reports of Small et al. and Scott et al. in 1973 (1,2). These surgeons introduced new prostheses which were the results of the development of penile prosthese, by earlier pioneers.