But it requires a five-inch-long slash across the abdomen and often results in urinary incontinence and erectile disfunction.

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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 erectile function.

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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 erectile function in patients who have had one or both nerves severed.

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