Our latest ISSM Member Profile features Dr. Luiz Otavio Torres of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. 

Dr. Torres has a private practice and also works in the public health system. He is currently the Director of the International Relations of the Brazilian Society of Urology.

Dr. Torres been an ISSM member since 1990. "The ISSM is a fantastic society, with many members from all parts of the world," he said.

He added, "It makes my practice better because it gives us – through its journals and scientific meetings – constant updates in the sexual medicine field."

Please click here to read more about Dr. Torres. You can also find other ISSM Member Profiles here. 

A group of international researchers has examined the effects of open prostatectomy with sural nerve grafting on erectile function.

In their approach, a plastic surgeon harvested a portion of the sural nerve and conducted a graft contemporaneously.

Sixty-six men with localized prostate cancer participated in the study. All had open radical prostatectomies by the same surgeon with a plastic surgeon performing the graft.

Using the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), the researchers assessed the men's sexual function before surgery and at different time points during the follow-up period, which lasted for a mean of 35 months.  

An IIEF score above 22 indicated erectile recovery. After surgery, about 29% of the patients met this threshold. Patients under age 60 tended to have better function.

The study was first published online in June in The Journal of Sexual Medicine. Please click here for more details.