Sexual repercussions of prostatic adenoma surgery for the man and his partner. Role of retrograde ejaculation

Very few patients complain of the sexual repercussions of surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia (one or two per year in a very active Parisian Urology department). However, when the patient presents such complaints, they are always dramatic and the patient is particularly critical of the surgeon who operated on him. In order to more clearly understand the importance of these exceptional complaints, associated with marked anxiety, the authors reviewed an IFOP survey concerning sexuality in the elderly: at the age when most prostatectomies are performed, orgasm is no longer considered to be essential. It is essential to always make sure that the patient has clearly understood the explanations given to him, which is particularly difficult in foreign patients. Prostatectomy is obviously an urological indication, but when it does not constitute an emergency, the urologist should defer the operation if his patient still has an active sex life (sexual intercourse once a week, for example).