The impact of sexual activity on serum hormone levels after penile prosthesis implantation

Abstract

Objectives: Penile prosthesis implantation is the final treatment option for patients who have erectile dysfunction. Most of the patients use their penile prosthesis successfully and frequently for penile-vaginal intercourse. Previous literature showed that decrease in sexual activity resulted in decreased serum testosterone levels and vice versa. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of sexual activity on serum sex hormone levels after penile prosthesis usage. Material and methods: In this study, we examined sixtyseven patients for their sex hormone changes who had penile prosthesis surgery 2.7 ± 1.5 years ago. Results: Patients were using their penile prosthesis for sexual activity with a mean of 9.9 ± 5.7 times per month. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate was significantly higher compared to pre-surgery results (5.3 ± 2.6 vs 4.5 ± 2.9; p = 0.031). Mean serum total testosterone levels of patients before and after penile prosthesis usage were clinically significant 15.78 ± 4.8 nmol/L and 16.5 ± 6.1 nmol/L, respectively. Mean serum luteinizing hormone levels of patients before and after penile prosthesis usage were 3.98 ± 2.16 IU/L and 5.47 ± 4.76 IU/L, respectively. No statistical significance difference was observed in the mean total and free testosterone, estradiol and luteinizing hormone levels between pre- and post-surgery. Conclusion: This study results demonstrated that sexual activity changed sex hormone levels positively among those men who were implanted penile prosthesis because of erectile dysfunction.

Keywords

• Androgens
• Erectile dysfunction
• Hypogonadism
• Prosthesis
• Testosterone