Good News for Patients!
Previous published Patient-reported outcomes trials document time to return of Urinary continence can take take 1 to 2 years. The use of ProPep®'s Nerve Monitoring System has been proven to help a patient have an earlier return to continence in as early as 3-months post surgery.
What Is It?
The ProPep® Nerve Monitoring System is the first FDA-cleared real-time nerve monitoring system for laparoscopic & robotic prostatectomy surgery. This is the same technology that is standard of care in other surgical fields.
What It Does For Your Surgeon?
All surgeons do their best to spare the nerves surrounding your prostate during surgery. Meaning - they do their best to not cut, stretch or cauterize them. But the fact of the matter is, the location of your nerves may not be where the textbook says they should be and to further the issue, these nerves are non-visible and critical to basic functions like continence and sexual function. The ProPep® Nerve Monitoring System helps surgeons identify these critical non-visible somatic nerves at risk during surgery, thereby allowing a surgeon to make more-informed decisions on how to spare these nerves, potentially minimizing nerve damage contributing to incontinence and sexual dysfunction.
The Study Results
ProPep® conducted a large clinical trial at Indiana University. Upon conclusion of this trial, data show that the group who used ProPep® had a 141% improvement over the group who did not use ProPep® when measuring continence (those with ZERO pad usage) at 3 months.
What This Mean for You?
Remember, several patient-reported outcomes studies show many patients are still wearing pads 1-2 years after their surgery. With the use of ProPep® during your surgery, you potentially can have an earlier return to your pre-surgery continence level. In addition, your return to your pre-surgery sexual function may be faster - this is not HOW good you perform...this is if you CAN perform. The former is all on you and your moves!
The When and How?
Here is the most important thing to know - the improvements seen by using ProPep® are real but can only be realized if your surgeon uses it DURING surgery. Once your nerves are compromized, there is no going back. The decision to take advantage of this technology has to be done BEFORE surgery.
So, how do you know if your surgeon uses ProPep®? Ask them. Remember, all surgeons will say they use "nerve sparing procedures" - but they cannot spare what they cannot see. If your surgeon does not use ProPep®, we can train them to use it or we can help find you a surgeon that does.
You may be thinking - okay, so why don't all robotics prostate surgeons use this product? Many reasons - they can range from the surgeons don't think they need it to hospitals' budget constraints will not allow it's use. Good news is there are surgeons that do use it, and there are payment options for when it's not covered by insurance.
So, What's Next?
Do your research. Talk to your surgeon. Make the right decision BEFORE your robotic prostate surgery.
Reach out to us for any questions you may have...we are here to help.
The Facts
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1 in 7 American Men will have Prostate Cancer
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Nerve locations can greatly vary from where the surgeon expects them to be per textbook anatomy
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Studies report 20-44% of men may experience URINARY INCONTINENCE at 12 months post-surgery despite a "successful nerve-sparing" surgery
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Studies report 38-40% of men may experience IMPOTENCY at 12 months post-surgery despite a "successful nerve-sparing" surgery
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ProPep Clinical Study shows a 141% IMPROVEMENT in URINARY CONTINENCE at 3-months post surgery (those who reported using ZERO pads)
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ProPep Clinical Study shows an 18% IMPROVEMENT in SEXUAL FUNCTION at 6-month post surgery
The Trial
Study Background
A single highly experienced surgeon, prospective cohort study was performed at Indiana University for patients undergoing robotic assisted radical prostatectomy from 2015-2017. These patients were aligned 1:2 with contemporary controls from the same surgeon on age (within 5 years), biopsy Gleason score, and nerve-sparing status.