The risk of losing sexual function and urine control may be greater in men who have prostate cancer surgery designed to reduce blood loss and hospital stays than those having traditional operations, a Harvard researcher reported Tuesday.
The technique, in which surgeons make three or four small cuts in the abdomen, is used in 40% of procedures to remove the prostate. Men undergoing the surgery were 40% more likely to be impotent and 30% more likely to be incontinent, according to the findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.