Of patients who undergo radical prostatectomy 5% are expected to be treated with surgery for urinary incontinence during a 15-year period claims a new study from Canada.

The population based study covered 25,346 men who underwent radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer in Ontario, Canada between 1993 and 2006.

The study also discovered that rates of subsequent surgery for urinary incontinence doubled between five and 15 years after the first operation.

The study, published in the Journal of Urology, is the first to suggest that urinary incontinence may be a long-term problem for men many years after their prostate surgery, according to the researchers.

According to Prostrate Cancer UK, one in nine men will get prostrate cancer, the most common cancer in men in the UK. Over 40,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK every year and a quarter of a million men are currently living with the disease.

Male Incontinence is one of the main side effects of prostatectomy with about a large proportion  of men reporting frequent leakage or no bladder control after the operation. Men find they often need to use incontinence pads such as TENA Men up to six months after prostatectomy, however the need for pads and the level of abosrbency required generally decreases over time and by three years, less than 10% of men report using incontinence pads.