Lifespan of Inflatable Implants today?

[Benjohn]

I've recently seen some websites state that the average lifespan of an implant installed now will be 15-20 years. This is up from the previous 10-year lifespan.

I struggle to believe this is true as I only ever see Franktalkers needing revisions and replacements much earlier than 10 years, let alone at 15 or 20 years.

Is anyone out there with an implant currently running for 10+ years?

Can anyone shed any light or verify these new lifespan statements? 15-20 years would be great, there's no doubting that!

[LastHope]

There are studies we can sift through, each with its own set of limitations, as they are observational retrospective studies, not controlled experiments.

I've heard from two surgeons that the typical lifespan is around 10 years.

One of them also likened it to a car, saying we could certainly end up with a lemon that might fail within less than a year.

A realistic and practical expectation might lie between 5-10 years.

Hey, you might get lucky and get 20+ years! Good luck.

1) In 12 studies (20,161 patients; median age 57 years), PP device survival was 93.3% at 1 year, 91.0% at 3 years, 87.2% at 5 years, 76.8% at 10 years, 63.7% at 15 years, and 52.9% at 20 years....

In conclusion, the median device survival time of an inflatable PP is approximately 20 years.

Long-Term Survival Rates of Inflatable Penile Prostheses: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Urology Journal
2022 Aug
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35421510/


2)
There is a newer study of 68 implants where they found the median time to revision for mechanical malfunction to be 3.75 years (range 1.8 - 6.6 years).

Journal of sexual medicine, 2023-06, Vol.20 (7), p.1044-1051
Mechanical indications for inflatable penile prosthesis revision: analysis and implications for revision surgery
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37189017/

[adkd124]

There are studies we can sift through, each with its own set of limitations, as they are observational retrospective studies, not controlled experiments.

I've heard from two surgeons that the typical lifespan is around 10 years.

One of them also likened it to a car, saying we could certainly end up with a lemon that might fail within less than a year.

A realistic and practical expectation might lie between 5-10 years.

Hey, you might get lucky and get 20+ years! Good luck.

1) In 12 studies (20,161 patients; median age 57 years), PP device survival was 93.3% at 1 year, 91.0% at 3 years, 87.2% at 5 years, 76.8% at 10 years, 63.7% at 15 years, and 52.9% at 20 years....

In conclusion, the median device survival time of an inflatable PP is approximately 20 years.

Long-Term Survival Rates of Inflatable Penile Prostheses: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Urology Journal
2022 Aug
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35421510/


2)
There is a newer study of 68 implants where they found the median time to revision for mechanical malfunction to be 3.75 years (range 1.8 - 6.6 years).

Journal of sexual medicine, 2023-06, Vol.20 (7), p.1044-1051
Mechanical indications for inflatable penile prosthesis revision: analysis and implications for revision surgery
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37189017/

Do you have full text of the second study?
I didn't found this information in abstract "There is a newer study of 68 implants where they found the median time to revision for mechanical malfunction to be 3.75 years (range 1.8 - 6.6 years)."

[LastHope]

There are studies we can sift through, each with its own set of limitations, as they are observational retrospective studies, not controlled experiments.

I've heard from two surgeons that the typical lifespan is around 10 years.

One of them also likened it to a car, saying we could certainly end up with a lemon that might fail within less than a year.

A realistic and practical expectation might lie between 5-10 years.

Hey, you might get lucky and get 20+ years! Good luck.

1) In 12 studies (20,161 patients; median age 57 years), PP device survival was 93.3% at 1 year, 91.0% at 3 years, 87.2% at 5 years, 76.8% at 10 years, 63.7% at 15 years, and 52.9% at 20 years....

In conclusion, the median device survival time of an inflatable PP is approximately 20 years.

Long-Term Survival Rates of Inflatable Penile Prostheses: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Urology Journal
2022 Aug
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35421510/


2)
There is a newer study of 68 implants where they found the median time to revision for mechanical malfunction to be 3.75 years (range 1.8 - 6.6 years).

Journal of sexual medicine, 2023-06, Vol.20 (7), p.1044-1051
Mechanical indications for inflatable penile prosthesis revision: analysis and implications for revision surgery
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37189017/

Do you have full text of the second study?
I didn't found this information in abstract "There is a newer study of 68 implants where they found the median time to revision for mechanical malfunction to be 3.75 years (range 1.8 - 6.6 years)."

It's behind paywall. Attached some numbers.

[Germaican]

I don't get how to calculate the time frame either. But I deduct from the second screenshot That there is an overall chance of 14.8% that you need revision surgery because of a mechanical failure. That's a bit worse than I thought it would be. I wish there was more data about the Rigicon Infla10 AX. I'm leaning towards it.

[SwedishDave]

I don't get how to calculate the time frame either. But I deduct from the second screenshot That there is an overall chance of 14.8% that you need revision surgery because of a mechanical failure. That's a bit worse than I thought it would be. I wish there was more data about the Rigicon Infla10 AX. I'm leaning towards it.

Rigicon seems a bit more promising tbh. Hope they take over the market and force the other companies to do better.

And Clavell said in a podcast that he doesnt believe the numbers in those studies. 8-15 years is what you can expect he said.

For younger/active guys probably a bit less

[LastHope]

My apologies, the first screenshot is too small to read

In the 2nd line of the 1st screenshot, the investigators have captured the median time to revision in months with IQR value (for mid-spread in the dataset as outliers are outliers and not the norm).

Time to revision, mo, median (IQR)
45 (22-79) - All
43 (20-99) - Boston Scientific
58 (41-72) - Coloplast

mo - months
IQR (interquartile range)

With a p-value of 0.589, there was no statistically significant difference found between Coloplast and Boston Scientific.

If you prefer in years:
All:
Median 3.75 years (IQR 1.83-6.58 years)

Boston Scientific:
Median 3.58 years (IQR 1.67-8.25 years)

Coloplast:
Median 4.83 years (IQR 3.42-6.00 years)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interquartile_range
In descriptive statistics, the interquartile range (IQR) is a measure of statistical dispersion, which is the spread of the data. The IQR may also be called the midspread, middle 50%, fourth spread, or H‑spread. It is defined as the difference between the 75th and 25th percentiles of the data.

[fucked0ne]

If you prefer in years:
All:
Median 3.75 years (IQR 1.83-6.58 years)

Boston Scientific:
Median 3.58 years (IQR 1.67-8.25 years)

Coloplast:
Median 4.83 years (IQR 3.42-6.00 years)

Yeah, this sounds WAY more realistic than 15-20 years. I would think frequency of use would also be a factor, with more frequent usage accelerating wear and tear. My plan is to schedule a malleable revision with Hakky for the Fall, putting me at a little over a year. I just don't want to have to deal with a break and just don't have much faith in the integrity of the thing. If the median is about 3 1/2 years, I should hopefully be able to make it to the Fall.

My advice to people going forward will be that if you are a very horny person, get a malleable. If you have sex/masturbate infrequently, by all means, inflatable. Unfortunately, I'm in the former camp.

Also, LastHope:

I was instructed by Hakky to use a VED for ten minutes a day for two months before a scheduled surgical date. How should one use a VED with the implant? Should you pump up first, or use it without pumping? Yes, I should have asked Hakky this, but it slipped my mind at the time of our consult.

[Frenchie]

If you prefer in years:
All:
Median 3.75 years (IQR 1.83-6.58 years)

Boston Scientific:
Median 3.58 years (IQR 1.67-8.25 years)

Coloplast:
Median 4.83 years (IQR 3.42-6.00 years)

Yeah, this sounds WAY more realistic than 15-20 years. I would think frequency of use would also be a factor, with more frequent usage accelerating wear and tear. My plan is to schedule a malleable revision with Hakky for the Fall, putting me at a little over a year. I just don't want to have to deal with a break and just don't have much faith in the integrity of the thing. If the median is about 3 1/2 years, I should hopefully be able to make it to the Fall.

My advice to people going forward will be that if you are a very horny person, get a malleable. If you have sex/masturbate infrequently, by all means, inflatable. Unfortunately, I'm in the former camp.

Also, LastHope:

I was instructed by Hakky to use a VED for ten minutes a day for two months before a scheduled surgical date. How should one use a VED with the implant? Should you pump up first, or use it without pumping? Yes, I should have asked Hakky this, but it slipped my mind at the time of our consult.

Why would you do a revision to a malleable if you dont have any failure of the implant? You can even go 10-15 years with that thing with a bit of luck

[fucked0ne]

If you prefer in years:
All:
Median 3.75 years (IQR 1.83-6.58 years)

Boston Scientific:
Median 3.58 years (IQR 1.67-8.25 years)

Coloplast:
Median 4.83 years (IQR 3.42-6.00 years)

Yeah, this sounds WAY more realistic than 15-20 years. I would think frequency of use would also be a factor, with more frequent usage accelerating wear and tear. My plan is to schedule a malleable revision with Hakky for the Fall, putting me at a little over a year. I just don't want to have to deal with a break and just don't have much faith in the integrity of the thing. If the median is about 3 1/2 years, I should hopefully be able to make it to the Fall.

My advice to people going forward will be that if you are a very horny person, get a malleable. If you have sex/masturbate infrequently, by all means, inflatable. Unfortunately, I'm in the former camp.

Also, LastHope:

I was instructed by Hakky to use a VED for ten minutes a day for two months before a scheduled surgical date. How should one use a VED with the implant? Should you pump up first, or use it without pumping? Yes, I should have asked Hakky this, but it slipped my mind at the time of our consult.

Why would you do a revision to a malleable if you dont have any failure of the implant? You can even go 10-15 years with that thing with a bit of luck

Yeah, good question, Frenchie. My implant is kind of fucky; I have a buggy pump and it's a veritable pain in my ass. Even if the pump did work okay, I hate having to inflate the thing; I feel it's an inconvenience and kills any sense of spontaneity. Also, my implant points to 4 o'clock which makes missionary sex--my favorite position--difficult. Apparently, malleables don't have this issue... because they're malleable.