They have beaten a tumor, but can no longer have a normal sex life due to erectile dysfunction. Every year 12,000 Italians affected by prostate cancer undergo radical removal of the organ and of these at least half suffer from severe erection difficulties and would indicate the implantation of penile prostheses to solve them. But most of the candidates do not have access to treatment because, being excluded from the Leas, the Regions are not required to provide it, so for economic reasons there are very few facilities available, in a few public centers, unevenly distributed throughout the territory. According to the data of the SIA National Register, compared to about 3000 requests, the prostheses provided are just 400 per year, concentrated for 75% between North and Center.
The appeal
The experts of the Italian Society of Andrology therefore launch an appeal to the institutions, so that the penile prosthesis surgery is inserted as soon as possible in the essential levels of assistance (Lea) to guarantee equal and homogeneous access to all cancer patients who are candidates for the implant. treatments as already happens to women who are operated on for breast cancer and are subjected to the implantation of a breast prosthesis, reimbursed and guaranteed to all patients throughout the country.
Prostate cancer: + 3% of new cases per year among the under 50s
“Only 10% of Italians who need a penile prosthesis are able to have surgery in a public facility, with waiting lists that can exceed 2 years. The remaining 90% to return to normal sexual activity must rely on private individuals. agreement – he comments Alessandro Palmieri, president of Sia and professor of Urology at the Federico II University of Naples, a center of excellence for the implantation of penile prostheses where about 40 interventions are performed every year.
Neuroendocrine prostate cancer. Is the future in BET inhibitors?
by Tina Simoniello
“The recent revision of the Essential Levels of Assistance does not in fact mention any reimbursement for prostheses after radical pelvic surgery for prostate cancer – underlines Omid Sedigh, new director of the Complex Structure of Urology and Reconstructive Andrology of the Gradenigo Humanitas hospital, one of the leading experts also at the international level of prosthetic implantology even in transplant patients – The Regions are thus not required to provide them and there are very few implants available in the few public centers that offer the intervention. hospitals.
The implant operation has a higher cost than the reimbursement foreseen in fact by the very outdated system of DRGs, which at best does not cover half the cost of the prosthesis which is functional and not aesthetic in order to restore the quality of life of the patients and the couple, otherwise very compromised “, Sedigh concludes.
randomly 2021
Prostate cancer: “nuclear therapy” improves the quality of life
A “leopard spot” national framework is therefore created which sees 75% of the services provided between North and Center, with great variability in the number of plants, ranging from 2 to over 60 from region to region. For the president of the Italian andrologists “It is paradoxical that Lea born to protect territorial equity in providing assistance, do not take into account penile prosthetic implantology and do not respect the principle of gender equality by omitting the right of cancer patients implantation, recognized and guaranteed with breast implants to all women operated on for breast cancer. An inexplicable disparity that denies the fundamental right to male sexual health even for cancer patients who are candidates for prosthesis surgery “.
“Prostheses are indicated for patients who, following an operation to remove a prostate tumor, have severe erectile dysfunction that does not respond to medical therapies – concludes Palmieri – A chronic and severe disease that can worsen other diseases of which it is a symptom such as diabetes and hypertension, with the onset of depression linked to the distortion of self-image which becomes a real handicap that can put life itself at risk as well as the patient’s quality of life “.
Wikipene, an encyclopedia on the male sexual organ is coming
by Irma D’Aria
.