Disappointing Satifaction Rates on Implants

[cincinnatus1951]

I am skeptical about this study. The population was only 27 people, nothing was said about participant selection. With the number of implants done, I would expect a population in at least the hundreds before it could be taken seriously.
Cincinnatus

[Larry10625]

I am skeptical about this study. The population was only 27 people, nothing was said about participant selection. With the number of implants done, I would expect a population in at least the hundreds before it could be taken seriously.
Cincinnatus

Agreed... AT LEAST hundreds. Most studies include hundreds from different parts of the country which equals in the thousands.

Larry

[TANGERINE]

I think the study seems pretty accurate, and it , on a rough approximation, mirrors some of the experience that we see hear on franktalk.

Frankly, I think that there is a lot of good news from the study:

1) ability to have sex: 90% say that they are rigid enough to penetrate. So, I agree, this is an awesome surgical cure for impotence. For me, I can have sex anytime, in 45 seconds of pumping Awesome

2) Are you satisfied with device and would you recommend to a friend: 87% to 88% are satisfied and would recommend to a friend. Those are really good numbers. From my years here on franktalk, the unsatisfied group appears to be issues with a really bad surgical installation or some unusual issue with the patient

3) How long does the device last: "Mechanical and overall survival rates of the inflatable penile prosthesis at 5, 10, and 15 years were 93.3%, 76.5%, and 64.8%" Wow, at ten years you have a three out of four chance of still a good device. That is really good in my opinion. Emotionally, we should figure that the device is good for ten years (if all goes well). In fact, you have a better than 50% chance that it will be good at 15 years. My sense is that penile implant is like a neat sports car: It costs around 25 grand and will last around 10 years and at the ten year point it will be obvious to you if you want to re-up anad get another sports car, or, hang it up.

4) Ability to orgasm: 60% satisfied and 28% indifferent and 11% dissatisfied.
The study does not ask if the patient had orgasm issues before the implant. The fact that only 11% were dissatisfied with this is an encouraging number.
Personally, for me, orgasm is much better since it lasts longer since i do not lose the erection. Also, I am exactly as sensitive as before the surgery. I have heard that the penoscrotal approach is important to avoid nerve changes which might occur from the infrapubic approach

TAKE HOME MESSAGE: there is an 88% chance that you will be satisfied that you had the implant. In my mind that is a good number, some say that this is much better than most medical procedure satisfaction rates. Also, it is better than the satisfaction rates with viagra or penile injections.

paper korea long term implant satisfaction.jpg (87.9 KiB) Viewed 831 times

Figure 1: Survey results from paper by Yoon Seob et al : "Long-term survival and patient satisfaction with inflatable penile prosthesis for the treatment of erectile dysfunction"

reference: Long-term survival and patient satisfaction with inflatable penile prosthesis for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, Yoon Seob Ji, Young Hwii Ko, Phil Hyun Song, and Ki Hak Moon, Korean J Urol. 2015 Jun; 56(6): 461–465.
Published online 2015 Jun 2. doi: 10.4111/kju.2015.56.6.461
PMCID: PMC4462637
PMID: 26078844

[Lost Sheep]

Here is something to consider;
You get ED and you go on the interned and start reading, taking surveys, participating in polls, etc. After you are implanted and no longer have to worry about ED, how motivated are you to go looking for ED sites? People seek out ways to complain about bad outcomes but, many people go looking for a way to praise a good job. I don't believe these statistics. There are statistics that have been gathered by the implant companies and doctors and I am pretty sure they contacted the random list of patients. ALSO, I have taken these polls before and have been able to vote as many times as I wanted to so, not very reliable.

Larry

I respctfully disagree. This was not a poll. This was a survey of patients conducted by a peer-reviewed professional medical journal.

My doubts about the statistics are that the sample size was small (75 patient) and all of one surgeon (albeit a high volume implanter) in a monoculture (Korea) and had a low response rate.

Given those limitations I believe the survey's veracity but discount the usefulness without similar surveys to add to the mass. of statistics.

[Lost Sheep]

Then there is this, if you're at the point where you need the operation, you have pretty much nowhere to go but up.

[geedeez]

Today I was searching online for satisfaction rates among penile implant patients. I found a reputable site on it from a government sponsored survey of 74 penile implant patients: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4462637/. In the article I was a bit shocked about what the respondents who took part in the study said.

2 things which I found disappointing were that 27% of respondents experienced mechanical/non-mechanical failure. Thats very high! The other disappointing item was that only 60% experienced orgasm. This is too low. This is not what I was expecting.

I was thinking about getting an implant. But reading this now puts a huge wrench in it. If someone can shed light and give some opinion I'd appreciate it. Below is the meat of the survey:

The mean (±standard deviation) age and follow-up period were 57.0±12.2 years and 105.5±64.0 months, respectively. Sixteen patients (21.6%) experienced a mechanical failure and 4 patients (5.4%) experienced a non-mechanical failure at a median follow-up of 98.0 months. Mechanical and overall survival rates of the inflatable penile prosthesis at 5, 10, and 15 years were 93.3%, 76.5%, and 64.8% and 89.1%, 71.4%, and 60.5%, respectively, without a statistically significant correlation with host factors including age, cause of ED, and presence of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Overall, 53 patients (71.6%) completed the questionnaires. The overall patient satisfaction rate was 86.8%, and 83.0% of the patients replied that they intended to repeat the same procedure. Among the 8 items asked, satisfaction with the rigidity of the device received the highest score (90.6%). In contrast, only 60.4% of subjects experienced orgasm.

Hey Geedeez; would you refuse to buy a car that had recalls?? Probably not. Any mechanical item is subject to malfunction. As long as they agree to fix it, I don't think it's fair to condem it or the company... in fact, I think it is commendable to take responsibility for it and agree to fix it. This is just my two cents worth.
Larry

Hi larry,

Appreciate the follow up. Actually I would steer clear of buying any car with recalls..lol. But I'm not condemning any implant or company that makes it. I'm just trying to be careful and gathering as much info as I can to prepare for the likely occasion when I do decide to go for an implant since its not an easy decision to make. Just being cautious.

.

[geedeez]

I think the study seems pretty accurate, and it , on a rough approximation, mirrors some of the experience that we see hear on franktalk.

Frankly, I think that there is a lot of good news from the study:

3) How long does the device last: "Mechanical and overall survival rates of the inflatable penile prosthesis at 5, 10, and 15 years were 93.3%, 76.5%, and 64.8%" Wow, at ten years you have a three out of four chance of still a good device. That is really good in my opinion. Emotionally, we should figure that the device is good for ten years (if all goes well). In fact, you have a better than 50% chance that it will be good at 15 years. My sense is that penile implant is like a neat sports car: It costs around 25 grand and will last around 10 years and at the ten year point it will be obvious to you if you want to re-up anad get another sports car, or, hang it up.

4) Ability to orgasm: 60% satisfied and 28% indifferent and 11% dissatisfied.
The study does not ask if the patient had orgasm issues before the implant. The fact that only 11% were dissatisfied with this is an encouraging number.

Personally, for me, orgasm is much better since it lasts longer since i do not lose the erection. Also, I am exactly as sensitive as before the surgery. I have heard that the penoscrotal approach is important to avoid nerve changes which might occur from the infrapubic approach.

To be very fair with you I completely missed the part of the study that it involved refractory ED. Personally I dont come from a refractory ED experience. My history comes from sadly taking a nasty med 2 decades ago that wreaked havoc upon my groin area, left an hour glass shape formation to the penis base and which afflicted me with ED as a result.

This said I wish I knew of a reputable source stating stats about implant experience from a non-refractory ED background. If you or anyone here knows of one I'd appreciate a link for my benefit and confidence. Thank you.

[SW0110]

I have to say it makes absolutely no difference to me what any survey or any other person says to me about an implant. Can I get an erection for sex. Nope. Pills do not work so good. Not doing the shot. Ved makes my d### look like a bad soft sausage. Looking at my d### with that damn curve makes me physically nauseous.

In my opinion and only mine an implant is the only reasonable option. I plan on getting mine as soon as I can. Late Feb at latest. If it all goes to hell so be it. I am going to try to do something. The way things are now is not acceptable. I thought the study was not so bad. Good chance if all goes well I will be on the same implant in 10 years. Might want to change it out anyway if I get that length back.

To me satisfaction rates are to subjective. If I asked about a survey. Pretty simple. Does your implant get hard enough to penetrate another person Male or female. Do you last long enough to please a partner without worrying about losing the erection. Can you receive oral and it feel ok, does not have to even be good. Everybody is different with orgasms. Some people are quick others take longer. I have to say I hope my viewpoint does not change but right now I want a hard d### that does not look up at me unless it is totally straight and pointing at about 1 o clock. Straight up.