The importance of psychosexual counselling in the re-establishment of organic and erotic functions after penile prosthesis implantation.

Although many studies about penile prosthesis implantation (PPI) have been published so far, only a small amount of them take into account patients and partners outcome in terms of satisfaction and erotic function. The aim of this study is to explore the value of psycosexual counselling in and the sexual and erotic function of penile prosthesis recipients. Thirty patients and their partners were randomised into two groups. In arm A (case group) patients and their partners underwent a multistep psychosexual counselling before and after surgery. In arm B (control group) surgery was performed without the specific psychosexual counselling scheme. Specific questionnaires (International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) and the Sexual Daydreaming Scale (SDS)) were administered before surgery and 12 months afterwards. Twenty-four months postoperatively patients were asked to complete the Global Assessment Questions (GAQ) and the Erectile Dysfunction Inventory of Treatment Satisfaction (EDITS), while their partners were asked to answer to the EDITS partner's section. Between January 2009 and October 2011, we enrolled 30 patients undergoing PPI in our institution (15 in each arm). Twenty-four months postoperative follow-up is available for all of them. No significant differences between the two groups in terms of baseline questionnaires scores were observed. Mean IIEF score was significantly higher in case group (arm A 68.3, arm B 53.4, P-value<0.001). At 12 months after PPI the improvement of erotic function according to SDS was significantly higher in the study group for both patients and their partners. Improvement in satisfaction rates were confirmed at 24 months, with statistically significant scores for EDITS in arm A patients and partners as compared with arm B. PPI with a pre- and postoperative psychosexual counselling scheme resulted in better postoperative sexual activity and erotic function for both patients and partners than PPI alone.