Pelvic Floor Toning May Help Some Avoid Incontinence After Prostate Surgery

Many men facing radical prostatectomy procedures aren’t worried so much about their cancer as they are about the humiliating side effects that often come with it.

There may be an answer, though experts differ on its benefits for patients with this kind of surgery. According to a press release about the more than 240,000 men who will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, some may be able to mitigate the dreaded side effects with pelvic floor toning, or what women have learned to call Kegel exercises, which are believed to improve urinary control, according to a press release at prnewswire.com.

A study just released by The National Institute of Health Research compared one-on-one training of pelvic floor toning exercises against standard care, to lessen male incontinence, according to the press release. The study concluded that there “is little to no evidence that this personalized physical therapy improved urinary incontinence, nor is it cost-effective,” according to the press release

But Dr. David Samadi, vice chairman of the Department of Urology, and Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, would beg to differ. According to the press release, he  recommends pelvic floor toning exercises for some patients who experience prolonged urinary incontinence following surgery, but certainly not all.

According to the press release, Dr. Samadi has performed almost 4,000 surgeries, with a cure rate of 97 percent. His secret? Robotic prostatectomy surgery, which uses da Vinci System technology for better “visualization and more precise dissection during surgery,” according to the press release, allowing Dr. Samadi to “spare the nerves surrounding the prostate – nerves critical to sexual and urinary functions.”

But success with this technology, as with most, is highly dependent on the skill of the surgeon, the press release notes.  Dr. Samadi says in the press release that he reminds patients to, “choose your surgeon carefully.” Dr. Samadi cautions patients to choose a surgeon with extensive experience in robotic prostate surgery, preferably the more, the better, the press release reports.

“I know that sexual potency and urinary continence are about as important to men as curing their prostate cancer. Therefore,” said Dr. Samadi in the press release.  “I believe in delivering what I call the Treatment Trifecta. My patients are fighting to be cancer-free, while maintaining sexual potency and full control of their urinary function.”

He’s had a lot of success.  According to the press release, 96 percent of Dr. Samadi's patients “regain urinary continence and 87 percent regain sexual function in a year or less after the surgery.”   Dr. Samadi works with those who are still having trouble, following the surgery.

Robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy is the most widely used procedure for this kind of surgery because it is minimally invasive and recovery time is quicker, according to medscape.com.

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