A Systematic Review of Sexual Satisfaction in Prostate Cancer Patients

Introduction: Prostate cancer (PCa) treatment has a signi ficant negative impact on sexual function. Because research to this date has mostly focused on the impact of PCa on erectile function, very little is known about the impact of PCa on other relevant sexual outcomes, such as sexual satisfaction. Aim: To conduct a literature review of studies that have examined sexual satisfaction in men diagnosed with and treated for PCa. Methods: A systematic review was conducted using Scopus and PubMed databases to identify studies that had assessed sexual satisfaction in men with PCa. The main characteristics of each study and results regarding the impact of PCa on sexual satisfaction were extracted and examined. Main Outcome Measure: The main outcome measure was studies that assessed general sexual satisfaction in men with PCa. Results: Thirty-eight articles were found regarding sexual satisfaction in PCa. Most studies did not focus on sexual satisfaction speci fically, and methodologic limitations produced very mixed results. Overall, PCa treat- ments had a low to moderate impact on sexual satisfaction, and psychosocial interventions were more successful at improving sexual satisfaction than medical interventions. Sexual satisfaction was correlated to a large number of sexual, relational, psychological, and medical variables. Conclusion: This literature review shows very mixed results about the sexual satisfaction in men with PCa. Differences in research designs, methodologic limitations, and studies conducted atheoretically limit our un- derstanding of the mechanisms that impact sexual satisfaction in men with PCa. We propose an alternative way of conducting research on sexual satisfaction by using solid theoretical models of sexual satisfaction. Santos - Iglesias P, Rana M, Walker L. A Systematic Review of Sexual Satisfaction in Prostate Cancer Patients. Copyright (C) 2020, International Society for Sexual Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.