Small-bowel obstruction by an inflatable penile prosthesis reservoir

Abstract

Early experience with the inflatable penile prosthesis has been plagued with high failure rates. With improvements in design and surgical technique, the relative incidence of mechanical failures has decreased from 69.9% of all complications to 38.2%, increasing the relative importance of pathologic failures (from 27.3% to 56.4%). The overall complication rate has decreased from an initial 32.5% to 9.0% in recent series. A unique case of small-bowel obstruction caused by intraluminal migration of the reservoir of an inflatable penile prosthesis is described. It was successfully managed by resection of the affected bowel loop and extraperitoneal reimplantation of the reservoir. Although general surgeons are not involved in the placement of these devices, it is important for us to be aware of the possibility of erosion and migration of the component parts, which may result in potentially lethal gastrointestinal and other complications that we may be called on to assess.