After prostate surgery it gives some function back, not all
Pooled across eight trials in men who kept both nerve bundles, the drugs beat placebo by 5.63 points on the standard questionnaire. That often still reads below normal.
What the study found
Sildenafil recovers part of what prostate surgery takes, not all
Pooled across eight randomised trials in men who kept both nerve bundles during prostate removal, sildenafil and the other drugs in its class beat placebo by 5.63 points on the standard erectile-function questionnaire. That often still leaves a man below the score read as normal.
The caveat · Doses and timing differed by trial
This covers only men who had both nerve bundles spared. Where the nerves were not spared, recovery is substantially worse and these trials say nothing about it. Eight trials, several industry-funded, with dosing and timing after surgery differing between them.