Objectives: Multicentre practice evaluation in the field of penile prostheses based on the Club des Implanteurs de Prosthèses Péniennes (CIPP) database.
Method: 282 penile prostheses, including 276 inflatable prostheses (97.8%), were implanted in 254 patients between 1996 and 2005 in three centres (1 public and 2 private). Preoperative data (patient's age, aetiology and duration of erectile dysfunction, preliminary treatments) and intraoperative data (type of implant used, surgical approach) were recorded. Postoperative complications were studied and postoperative erectile function was evaluated by a self-administered questionnaire (IIEF). The mean follow-up was 27.7 months.
Results: Penile prostheses were implanted after an average of 39.2 months of erectile dysfunction in patients with a mean age of 58.6 years. The main aetiologies were arterial disease (35.3%), diabetes (22.8%) and radical prostatectomy (16.5%). The postoperative sepsis rate was 2.2% and the mechanical dysfunction rate was 7.5% at the beginning of the operators' experience. The rate of other complications requiring repeat surgery (erosion, migration, self-inflation) was 1.8% at the beginning of the operators' experience. The septic risk was increased (7.6%) in the presence of diabetes (p = 0.01). The postoperative overall satisfaction was 86.7% and the IIEF score increased from 20.5 +/- 11.8 preoperatively to 68.9 +/- 5.4 postoperatively.
Conclusion: Penile prostheses achieve a high postoperative satisfaction score with a low complication rate. However, they are only indicated after failure of less invasive treatments and must be implanted by experienced operators. These results are comparable to those of large international single-centre series.