Multicenter surgical outcomes of penile prosthesis placement in patients with corporal fibrosis and review of the literature.

Abstract

Penile prosthesis (PP) insertion in the setting of corporal fibrosis can be challenging and a variety of techniques have been described to accomplish this, however the necessity of these maneuvers is debatable. Our objective was to investigate techniques and outcomes of PP placement in patients with corporal fibrosis at tertiary referral centers. Multicenter outcomes of 42 patients (mean age 53.4 ± 1.9 years) with corporal fibrosis who underwent placement of PP over a 10-year period were reviewed. The most common etiology of corporal fibrosis was prior PP explant due to either infection (40.5%) and/or erosion (16.7%). Fourteen patients (33.3%) had a history of priapism, 5 (11.9%) of which had one or more distal surgical penile shunts. Techniques used for PP placement included: sequential dilation (8-12 mm) with standard dilators in 15 (35.7%), dilation with cavernotomes in 25 (59.5%) and limited sharp corporal excision and dilation with cavernotomes in 1 (2.4%). Narrow cylinders were employed in ten patients (23.8%). Major complications occurred in one patient (2.4%) who underwent explant for infection and distal erosion. Most patients with corporal fibrosis can undergo successful placement of a PP using standard dilators or cavernotomes. Sharp corporal excision and other measures are rarely required.