Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Risks
By Mayo Clinic staff
Sexual dysfunction
The most common long-term complication of transurethral incision of the prostate is retrograde ejaculation. When this condition occurs, some or all of the semen released during an ejaculation enters the bladder rather than exiting the penis. This occurs because the muscles at the neck of the bladder, where the bladder meets the urethra, fail to seal off the bladder.
Retrograde ejaculation isn't harmful, and semen is emptied from the bladder during urination. However, retrograde ejaculation can cause fertility problems. Drugs that improve muscle tone of the bladder neck may lessen retrograde ejaculations.
For most men, surgery doesn't alter their ability to get or maintain an erection or to have an orgasm. It may take several months, however, for sexual function to feel "normal" again.
Short-term risks
Relatively uncommon, short-term risks or complications of transurethral incision of the prostate include:
- Difficulty urinating (urinary retention)
- Lack of control over urination (urinary incontinence)
- Urinary tract infection
- Problems with blood sodium levels (hyponatremia) caused by a fluid used during the procedure
- Prostate enlargement: Benign prostatic hyperplasia. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/prostateenlargement. Accessed March 26, 2009.
- Cunningham GR, et al. Surgical and other invasive therapies of benign prostatic hyperplasia. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 26, 2009.
- Keister D, et al. Managing BPH: When to consider surgery. American Family Physician. 2008;77:1375.
- Edwards JL. Diagnosis and management of benign prostatic hyperplasia. American Family Physician. 2008;77:1403.
- Anawalt BD. Male sexual dysfunction. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec17/ch227/ch227c.html. Accessed April 2, 2009.
- Fitzpatrick JM. Minimally invasive and endoscopic management of benign prostatic hyperplasia. In: Wein AJ, et al., eds. Campbell-Walsh Urology. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/128176228-3/821503196/1445/91.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-7216-0798-6..50090-X--cesec83_6062. Accessed March 26, 2009.
