Innovative techniques

The minimally invasive penile prosthesis implant technique is minimally invasive and therefore revolutionary:

I developed it after a long period of training in the United States, where I collaborated with one of the most important American andrologists, Professor Paul Perito of Coral Gables Hospital in Florida. I use it mainly in patients who have undergone surgery for prostate cancer and in those suffering from induratio penis plastica of the penis.

Interview with Dr Gabriele Antonini

An active and fulfilling sex life is possible, even if you have undergone prostate surgery that has left you with a functional deficit. The definitive solution is a penile prosthesis, or intracavernosal device, which can now be implanted with a minimally invasive procedure. Gabriele Antonini, the first and only person in Italy to perform this innovative technique, explained the details to us. He is an andrologist urologist in the “U. Bracci” Urology Department at the Policlinico Umberto I hospital in Rome.

Erectile dysfunction after prostate cancer surgery: when is a penile prosthesis necessary?
Erectile dysfunction problems mainly affect prostate cancer patients, but also those who have undergone colorectal surgery and patients with diabetes. Erectile dysfunction can be more or less severe, depending on the vascular microlesions reported. Post-surgical rehabilitation involves the use of oral medications such as sildenafil and tadalafil, which, however, do not guarantee a full recovery of sexual activity. In fact, most of the time they prove ineffective. In these cases, the only therapeutic solution is therefore the implantation of an intracavernosal device that restores the sexual organ to perfect functioning.

How does a penile prosthesis work?
Blood no longer circulates, so this deficiency must be compensated for in order for the organ to function. The hydraulic prostheses I use are called three-component prostheses. They consist of two inflatable cylinders, an activator device and a spherical reservoir. The activation mechanism, which is hidden inside the scrotum between the two testicles, is started manually and causes the liquid, a physiological solution, to flow from the reservoir into the cylinders located in the two corpora cavernosa, which then inflate and stiffen.

What are the characteristics of the technique you use and what are its advantages over others?
The technique I use, called Minimally Invasive Penile Prosthesis Implant, is minimally invasive and therefore revolutionary. I learned and perfected it after a long period of training in the United States, where I collaborated with one of the most important American andrologists, Professor Paul Perito of Coral Gables Hospital in Florida. I use it mainly in patients who have undergone surgery.