Are there any complications after prostate cancer surgery? How to do postoperative care for prostate cancer

There are many factors that cause prostate cancer. Clinically, age, genetics, race, region, and gene changes are common. Age is the biggest factor in the development of prostate cancer. The incidence of prostate cancer increases year by year with age. Therefore, for middle-aged and elderly patients, it is important to prevent prostate cancer as early as possible. Prostate cancer is a relatively harmful disease. If not treated in time, various complications will occur in the body, seriously endangering the patient's life and health. In order to further enhance everyone's understanding of prostate cancer, we specially invited Gu Di, deputy chief physician of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, to explain to us one by one the complications and postoperative care of prostate cancer after surgery.

What are the complications after prostate cancer surgery?

Complications after prostate cancer surgery include:

1. Urinary incontinence: Urinary incontinence may occur after prostatectomy. Most patients can recover completely after 3-6 months, and only 5% of patients cannot recover after one year.

2. Loss of sexual function: There are sexual nerves and blood vessels on both sides of the prostate. Most patients with preserved bilateral sexual nerves and blood vessels can recover their sexual function after two years of drug treatment. For patients with only one side of the sexual nerve retained, there is a 40% chance of recovering sexual function.

How to care after prostate cancer surgery?

Postoperative care after prostate cancer surgery includes:

1. Generally, the catheter is removed 10-14 days after surgery. If urinary incontinence occurs afterwards, pelvic floor muscle exercises are required. However, after three months of continuous exercises, the patient can recover well.

2. If you still experience complete urinary incontinence after exercising for more than a year, you need to see a doctor. You can control urination through artificial urinary sphincter implantation.

Complications after prostate cancer surgery are inevitable, because the prostate itself is extremely important to the human body's fertility and urinary system. Prostate cancer surgery is to directly remove the cancerous prostate, which has a great impact on the urinary system of the elderly. Many prostate patients will experience urinary incontinence and loss of sexual function after surgery, which need to be recovered through active exercise. Postoperative care for prostate cancer patients needs to start from two aspects. One is the care of the disease itself, including courage after surgery and wound recovery, and the other is psychological construction, by giving patients positive psychological hints and enhancing their confidence, to achieve the best treatment effect.