Pre- and post-treatment sexual life in testicular cancer patients: a descriptive investigation

Abstract

Summary Aspects of sexuality were assessed by questionnaires in 76 testicular cancer patients after orchiectomy before further treatment and, respectively, 6, 12 and 36 months after therapy. Before treatment 11% of the patients reported dissatisfaction with sexual life. About 20% of the patients sometimes experienced reduced libido and erectile difficulties. Six months after therapy significantly more patients (27%) recorded an unsatisfactory sexual life as compared to the pretreatment situation. At the 36 months' evaluation 22 of 76 evaluable patients (18%) still stated that their sexual life was inferior to the pretreatment experience. Libido and erectile function decreased transiently during the first year after treatment in most patients. Twelve patients reported permanent 'dry ejaculation' after bilateral retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. Other sexual disturbances could not be related to specified treatment modalities. Increased age at the time of diagnosis and psychological distress tended to correlate with the incidence of sexual problems. For about 60% of the patients the discussion of expected and experienced sexual life problems was an important issue to be discussed before their treatment for testicular cancer and during follow-up. The high frequency of any kind of long-lasting sexual problems (30%), though often of minor degree, warrants an adequate counselling of these patients before and after treatment.

Side Effects of Adjuvant Radiotherapy in Men with Testicular Seminoma Stage I

“…Radiotherapy has been the accepted cancer therapy option for at least fi ve decades. Our study describes side effects in patients with testicular seminoma stage I after radiotherapy and is in concordance with similar studies (11,31). According to a large multicentre studies, 4 % to 7 % of patients developed the secondary cancer after radiotherapy of testicular cancer, of which the highest risk was for gastrointestinal cancers (9,32).…”

“…A transparent communication and individual approach to patients will produce the best results and better treatment of radiotherapy side effects. The important problem is the change in sexual activity due to either psychological reasons (35,36) or the awareness of fertility issues (11,28). This study contributes to the current knowledge of patient condition after exposure to ionising radiation, fertility options, side effects in order to identify procedures for resolving patient's problems and improving living conditions as soon after radiotherapy as possible.…”

The Effects of Testicular Cancer Treatment on Health-related Quality of Life

“…[13][14][15][16][17] In addition, the few prospective studies that have been published suggest that although quality of life is adversely affected during adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy, levels tend to return to baseline after the completion of treatment. 16,18,19 However, several reports suggest that survivors are more likely to experience some adverse outcomes, such as anxiety, 20 chronic fatigue, 21 and sexual dysfunction.…”

Long-term effects on sexual function and fertility after treatment of testicular cancer

“…The different effects of treatment on sexual functioning make their evaluation a complex problem, particularly in patients treated with more than one therapeutic modality. Large differences regarding the frequencies of sexual dysfunctions and the influence of different treatments are reported in the literature (Rieker et al, 1985(Rieker et al, , 1989Schover and Eschenbach, 1985;Schover et al, 1986;Gritz et al, 1989;Tinkler et al, 1992;Aass et al, 1993;Bloom et al, 1993;Arai et al, 1997;Jonker-Pool et al, 1997). The aim of the present descriptive investigation was to evaluate the incidence of long-term effects on sexuality and try to identify treatment-related differences.…”