Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(HOUSTON) -- Despite improved therapies for men diagnosed with prostate cancer, most men face erection dysfunction because of nerve damage or blood flow problems.? Many also lose their desire for sex and have difficulties reaching an orgasm.
Now, a new study published online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, suggests that counseling can enhance the effectiveness of erectile dysfunction medications to help improve couples' sex lives.
Both Internet-based counseling and face-to-face therapy sessions improved the sex lives of prostate cancer survivors and their spouses, according to the study led by Leslie Schover, a psychologist and professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
"When men get these problems, they see their sexual function as how hard is my erection, and women get ignored and turned off," she said.? "And so men get distressed emotionally and feel like they are a failure."
In the study, Internet-based and face-to-face counseling focused on both partners' enjoyment when they "encountered more intimacy and less performance," said Schover.
The University of Texas study involved 115 couples. In each case, the man's prostate cancer treatment had taken place no more than two years prior to the study.? Half of the couples sought no help for three months.? The other half had three face-to-face counseling sessions or worked with an online counselor who gave feedback on the Internet.
A third group of 71 couples who lived too far to participate in face-to-face counseling was part of the Internet group.
Couples were also educated about treatment options for impotence: drugs like Viagra that increase blood flow, shots in the penis, vacuum pumps and surgical penile implants.
Each partner looked over the information on these medical interventions and rated them. The computer generated their top three choices.
Couples compared notes then agreed on a treatment option as a first step.? They were also monitored by counselors to see how well it worked and to "troubleshoot," according to Schover.
After three months, the couples who had received no counseling benefits were assigned one of the two treatment options.
Both partners in the relationship filled out questionnaires assessing their sexual function and satisfaction before counseling, after treatment, and at six months and one year later.
At the end of one year, 54 percent found effective treatments for their sexual dysfunction.? On average, the group "looked like the score of men in a community who don't have erection problems," said Schover.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio
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