Men optimistic on prostate cancer surgery

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Men may be too optimistic about recovery from prostate cancer surgery and its side effects, U.S. researchers say.

Study author Daniela Wittmann, sexual health coordinator at the University of Michigan prostate cancer survivorship program, said nearly half of men undergoing surgery for prostate cancer expect better recovery from the side effects of the surgery than they actually attain one year after the operation.

In addition, prior to surgery, a small proportion of men had expected to have better urinary continence and sexual functions a year after the surgery than they had before it -- the exact opposite of what typically happens. Wittman said.

"This is a belief that does not reflect preoperative counseling which, on the contrary, alerts men to urinary and sexual problems after surgery," Wittmann says in a statement.

The study, published in the Journal of Urology, showed for the most part, men's expectations of hormonal and bowel function matched what happened one year after surgery but when it came to urinary incontinence, only 36 percent of the men's expectations corresponded to what happened one year after surgery.

In addition, 40 percent of men found what they expected for sexual function to be true one year post-surgery, 46 percent of the men found worse than expected outcomes in urinary incontinence and 44 percent of men found worse than expected outcomes in sexual function one year after surgery, the study said.