Ukmedix has come across reserach that shows that many prostate cancer patients who end up having sexual function problems later on never try erectile dysfunction medications like Viagra, Cialis or Levitra. It was also seen that the chances of a man getting treatment for erectile dysfunction varies with the sort of prostate cancer treatment he was given.

Previous research shows that about 50% of those prostate cancer patients who survive get help but there is little or no data on how much a man's desire to have intercourse is linked to his chances of using such medications. The research carried out by the Harvard Medical School in Boston looked at 650 men at various intervals after prostate cancer treatment and also at another 74 men who had not had prostate cancer as a control group.

Around 50% of the men with impotence after prostate cancer treatment reported that it only worried them a little bit or not at all. The survey also saw that men who had their prostate glands removed (radical prostatectomy) and then had erectile dysfunction problems were more likely to get treatment and only around a quarter of them didn't even try erectile dysfunction medications. However, nearly half of the men with erectile dysfunction that had treatment with brachytherapy, (using small radioactive seeds) did not get treatment for the erectile dysfunction problem and 61% of men who had erectile dysfunction after using external beam radiation also did not try to remedy the problem.

Interestingly the men who were still able to have sex after being treated for the prostrate cancer were seen to be almost 3 times more likely to get treatment to boost sexual function when compared to the men who were completely impotent. One possible reason for the differences in erectile function with the type of prostate therapy may be that men normally experience a sudden loss of sexual function following radical prostatectomy and with time their sexual function slowly improves and with radiation therapy sexual function declines more slowly so these sufferers would be less likely to get impotence treatment.

The researchers said that more study is needed to see properly whether radiotherapy patients and other treatments have different effects on erectile function.