A study in the United States has examined whether men who are paraplegic or quadriplegic should be treated with penile implants for erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence. The study involved three different types of prosthesis.

The study looked at 245 men with severe spinal nerve damage between 1980 and 1996 who got penile prostheses. The prostheses used were the inflatable 3-piece type, the semirigid made by Jonas and also a self contained inflatable version made by Dynaflex. It was determined at the end of the study that the inflatable 3 piece type was the best as it had the smallest number of complications.

Of the 245 men 80% of them had spinal injuries due to trauma, 7% had spina bifida,  6% had tumors, 5% had had infections of the nervous system the rest (2%) had MS. The average age of the men was 41 years old.

Most of the men (134) got prosthesis so that they would be able to improve urinary incontinence, however 60 men used the prothesis for erectile dysfunction and 51 had the penile implant for erectile dysfunction and incontinence. The study noted that over a period of time urinary incontinence was cured in over 90% of cases and nearly 83% of the men with erectile dysfunction reported satisfaction with the treatment.

Penile implants can cause infections and this was noted in 5% of cases and in about 12% of cases technical problems resulted in some alterations to the devices. The semi rigid penile implant was the most problematic with nearly 20% of men having perforations. The inflatable 3 piece however reported no perforations.

The research shows that without doubt the 3 piece device is the most likely to be without complications and will be effective in men with spinal injury which leads to incontinence and erectile dysfunction.