Artificial Urinary Sphincter

Hey and a warm welcome to the online community

I was passing and noticed that your post had gone unanswered. It may be that no one here has had this operation or no one with the right experience has seen your post. By replying it will bump it back to the top of the page where it will be seen again.

I googled "artificial urinary sphincter" and found information about it on Prostate Cancer UK. Clicking on my link will take you there. As well as reading about it on their website they also have a phone line which would enable you to speak to one of their prostate cancer nurses.

You could also post your question in ask a nurse here on the Macmillan website and one of the specialist cancer nurses will respond within 2 working days.

When you have a minute could you pop something about your journey so far into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Edit Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.

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Hi Mogman

If you look online u will see a few pieces on AUS. Looks a good procedure for incontinence, successful too although some patient s have issues after the procedure but looks like they can be resolved

Regards

Steve

This thread is being marked for retention by the moderator, as some members are still finding this useful.

Hi- It's a good idea to keep this thread live. I had a RALP about 9 months ago and am still having trouble with incontinence (when I'm standing). I may be offered an Artificial Urinary Sphincter in the next 3 months or so. General info on the internet suggests that most people have a good experience with these. For people like me it would still be useful to hear of any personal experiences of the op, and it's longer term impact.

Thanks

I had my Artificial Urinary Sphincter operation on 4 July 2025 here in a Melbourne hospital. Two surgeons + an aneasthatist  and it took 3 to 4 hours under GA. from a few days after very strong painkillers Palexia was reqired but the best was use a lot of Voltaren Emulgel around in the groin and the testicles. Now from yesterday 18 July all the pain and swollen areas are gone. I am made to understand that on average a 90% successrate is achieved. I look forward to the Activation of the AS system on 7 August 2025. I had a Prostate cancer diagnosed in juni 2024 with Gleason score 9, Rerenial invation, but still not metastatic. Normally a complete Prostatectomy is the treatment, but because of my complex medicial condition it was seen to dangeroeus for me to get that done, I am 82 years of age. The solotion was insted 3-monthly injections with Zoladex 10.8mg. I had the first injection on 2 Sep 2024, the second on 2 Dec. 2024. My PSA originally starting at 15.6 which is not of a concern, but the PSA velocity was. My PSA was reducing fast, now today being 0.022, so I declned my 3. Zoladex injection specially due to the devastation side effect, here like total and absolut loss of bladder control at any time and in any condition. That is why the AUS operation was the only option. But it was 10 days exstreme pain. I am now seen as chemically fully castrated, have now problem with that and arfe looking forward to the AUS activation day when the surgeon will activate the system, and that I can control the time I want to pee by pressing the contact inside my testicles. Good luck wit it    

Hi Latchbook,

I raised a similar query about these AUS devices about 6 months ago, but no real responses. From what I read online they have a high success rate. Most people seem to be happy that  they had the op, to much reduce/stop their incontinence.

Also this may be of interest

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/urinary-incontinence/surgery/

I'm still suffering pretty bad leakage after my RALP 15 months ago. If/when I'm offered surgical intervention I'm very likely to say yes. I'm on the waiting list but one reason they take their time is that they just want to make sure that the pelvic floor squeezing isn't doing the trick. It's clear that mine won't cure itself!

Good luck with the ongoing treatment.

Hi Valkyryen, Thanks for all this info. It sounds like a bigger op than I anticipated, and the pain seems to have gone on for quite a while. Anyhow I'm sure all that will be forgotten in a few weeks. 

Best wishes for the activation, and any ongoing therapy. 

I expect I'll be having the same op in 6 months or so. Incontinence gets very wearing, and is quite disruptive on your life!

Hi Poldark, Thanks for your comments and I hope you get it done ok. I am made to believe that here I Australia they only do about 200 of these operations per year which I find hard to believe. In America, it is in the many thousands. The only restriction I have come across is that you must not suffer from dementia because you need to know how and where to use the right contacts operated into your scrotum / testicles. You will also need to understand how long time you should let the bladder fill up before you press the “open the valve” button. Then you have the 45 seconds before the system automatically closes again. The control unit in your scrotum is 5.5 cm long and you get a separate duplicate unit to play with so you can learn how to use it correctly before the activation day, which is about 4 to 5 weeks after the AUS operation.   

Hi Valkyrien, Thanks for the info. Wow-5.5 cms is bigger than my scrotum!

I asked chat GPT about AUS op and it reckons.....

The NHS installs around 1,500 to 2,000 artificial urinary sphincters (AUS) per year. This figure is an estimate, as the exact number can vary depending on factors such as hospital funding, regional differences, and patient demand.'

For Australia it says 'In Australia, the number of artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) implants per year is estimated to be around 500 to 700 procedures. This is based on both public and private healthcare data, and the figure can vary based on factors like healthcare accessibility, patient demographics, and medical advances.'

TBH the numbers of ops are quite small I think, which shows how good the standard RALP is.

Thanks again, I'll keep on squeezing until the NHS decides to get back to me!

BTW If anyone is looking for cancer info from the internet I'd really recommend using chatGPT. It gives a good summary of internet data, but treat with caution- not everything it says is correct.

Hi Poldark, that was very good information you gave here about the number of AUS operations performed in USA and Australia. I will mention these figures tomorrow Tuesday 22 July, when I am at the monthly group meeting where we normally are about 20 people thereof up to 5 women. We have these Prostate Cancer Support Group 2-hour meetings every 4^th Tuesday in every month from 1900. These groups belong to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, and we have a speaker on a PC related subject every time. Tomorrow it is on dementia. About every third month, we also have a kind of “status”  session, where each member, at the round table, explain and talk about their current prostate situation, procedures, medication, PSA and how they feel about it all. A lot of questions and answers to what is said here comes from the other members during this round-the-table talks. The PC support group leader will, before such start, explain that is each members own words and not to be seen as medically facts said by a doctor, surgeon or PC specialist. The members can check and further discuss with their own doctors’ issues raised at the meeting, which have their further interest, or they may which to pursue.

When I, on my first such occasion, explained my situation from when my pc was diagnosed a year ago, then going into the usual examinations and tests, before I ventured further into my Zoladex 10.8 mg 3-monthly injection treatment, and its serious side effects in me, there were fist silence. None of the members had heard about Zoladex injections before. I explained it seems an option when a full prostatectomy cannot be done (like for me due to my “complex medical situation”) as a urologist professor told me.

At the last such round-the-table session I explained that one of the serious side effects of the Zoladex 10.8mg injection treatment for me, was total loss of any remaining bladder control, and it was now towelling nappies and plastic pants day and night. My GP (usual doctor of 25 years) then gave me two pages explaining the Artificial Urinary Sphincter control system and asked me if it could be something for me. I accepted and following talks with an AUS surgeon I got the 3-unit system inserted in my body by a long  AUS operation on 4 July 2025 with an outcome success rate expected be 90%.

At the next session, maybe tomorrow night, I will explain the short-term-pain for long-term gain (said to be 10 years before a redo). I have been incontinent since year 2003, so the 10 days excruciating pain at times, had to be accepted and done with the help of the intake of Palexia IR 50 mg (Tapentadol) and Oxycodone 5 mg and in the later days, but very good, also the Voltaren Emugel 11.6 mg /g (Diclofenac diethylamine) for the crotch area.

When my AMS 800 Urinary Control System is activated by the AUS surgeon on Thursday 7^th August 2025, I will also come back describing the outcome etc.  

Valkyrien.