and the exposure lasting e.g. two weeks. Intense pain may indicate such situation. Men can experience changes in their sexual responses after radical prostatectomy, including impairments to sexual desire, penile morphology and orgasmic function. A 2005 article in the medical journal Reviews in Urology listed the incidence of several complications following radical prostatectomy: mortality <0.3%, impotence >50%, ejaculatory dysfunction 100%, orgasmic dysfunction 50%, incontinence <5–30%, pulmonary embolism <1%, rectal injury <1%, urethral stricture <5%, and transfusion 20%. Erectile dysfunction Surgical removal of the prostate contains an increased likelihood that patients will experience erectile dysfunction. Radical prostatectomy is associated with greater decrease in sexual function than external beam radiotherapy. Nerve-sparing surgery reduces the risk that patients will experience erectile dysfunction. However, the experience and the skill of the nerve-sparing surgeon, as well as any surgeon are critical determinants of the likelihood of positive erectile function of the patient. Following a prostatectomy, patients will not be able to ejaculate semen due to the nature of the procedure, resulting in the permanent necessity of assisted reproductive techniques in case of desires of future fertility. Preservation of normal ejaculation is possible after TUR prostatectomy, open or laser enucleation of adenoma and laser vaporisation of prostate. However, retrograde ejaculation is a common problem. Preservation of ejaculation is the aim of some new techniques. Once the prostate and vesicles are removed, even if partial erection is achieved, ejaculation is a very different experience, with little of the compulsive release that is common to ejaculation with those organs intact. Urinary incontinence Prostatectomy patients have an increased risk of leaking small amounts of urine immediately after surgery, and for the long-term, often requiring urinary incontinence devices such as condom catheters or diaper pads. A large analysis of the incidence of urinary incontinence found that 12 months after surgery, 75% of patients needed no pad, while 9–16% did. Factors associated with increased risk of long-term urinary incontinence include older age, higher BMI, more comorbidities, larger prostates surgically excised, as well as experience and technique of the surgeon. Surgical management options for urinary incontinence secondary to prostatectomy include implantation of perineal slings and artificial urinary sphincters. Although there are limited data on the long-term outcomes in males, perineal slings are offered for mild-to-moderate post-prostatectomy incontinence. In a retrospective study the success rate of perineal sling placement in urinary incontinence following prostatectomy achieved 86% at a median follow-up of 22 months.