Prevention and treatment of infectious complications after urogenital prosthesis surgery

Abstract

Prostheses are widely used in urogenital surgery for many decades and have gained a fundamental role in the management of multiple diseases with good results in terms of functionality, aesthetic outcomes and patients’ satisfaction. It is remarkable that prosthetic device vary in term of mechanical sophistication, costs and surgical implantation techniques ranging from simple device widely used in urological practice like testicular prosthesis to highly sophisticated devices as Inflatable Penile Prosthesis (IPP) and Artificial Urinary Sphincter (AUS). Despite continuous implementations of the devices and improvements of surgical implantation techniques infective complications are still fearful and not uncommon events. Risk of infection depends on patients’ individual features, perioperative strategies, implantation techniques and prosthetic devices. Prevent these complications is imperative because the management of prosthesis infection requires removal of the device in most cases. Centres that plan prosthetic implantations should based on these strategies protocols in order to prevent as far as possible infective complications.