But surgery comes with as much as an 80% likelihood of impotence, caused by damage to one or both of the adjacent cavernosal nerves that are responsible for erectilefunction.
By taking a piece of the sural nerve--a long, straight stretch of nerve that runs alongside the back of the calf and ankle--and stitching it into the pelvis between the severed cavernosal nerves, surgeons say they are able to preserve erectilefunction in patients who have had one or both nerves severed.