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Not medical advice. The Atlas is not a substitute for a clinician who can examine you.

Malleable Penile Implants

Coloplast Genesis, Boston Scientific Tactra & Spectra (semi-rigid rods)

Evidence grade 5 of 5, Settled. Read how the Atlas grades evidence.

The written rationale for this grade is still being prepared.

FDA
FDA Approved (Tactra approved April 2019)

Reference only. Not medical advice.

What can go wrong

Surgical risks parallel inflatable implants (infection, erosion, irreversible loss of native erectile tissue), though with fewer mechanical components to fail. Downsides are cosmetic and practical: permanent semi-rigidity, harder concealment, and a somewhat higher theoretical erosion risk from continuous pressure. Only the Coloplast Genesis carries an antibiotic/hydrophilic coating among malleables.

This is something to take to a clinician. The Atlas can tell you what is known about malleable penile implants in general. It cannot tell you what is happening in your body, and the difference matters most for exactly the symptoms that bring people to this page.

Malleable (semi-rigid) penile prostheses are paired bendable rods implanted in the corpora cavernosa that leave the penis permanently firm but positionable, bent up for intercourse and down for concealment. The main devices are the Coloplast Genesis and the Boston Scientific Tactra (FDA approved April 2019) and its predecessor the AMS Spectra. They have no pump or reservoir, so there is less to fail mechanically and less manual dexterity required, but they do not produce a flaccid state.

The simpler implant: no pump, no reservoir, always semi-rigid.

What people take it for

What it is taken for. Approval, where it exists, covers only some of these.

  • ED in men with poor manual dexterity
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Salvage after infected inflatable implant
  • Emergency management of refractory ischemic priapism
  • Patients who prefer a simpler device

How it works

The rods provide constant structural rigidity sufficient for penetration; the malleable core lets the user bend the penis into position and back down for concealment. Because there is no hydraulic system, function does not depend on pumping or on any residual vascular erectile capacity.

What people get wrong

  • Often saidA semi-rigid implant means a permanent visible erection

    ActuallyThe penis stays firm but is positionable and can be bent down for concealment; it is not a constant full erection, though concealment is admittedly harder than with an inflatable.

Who profits, and who pushes back

Nobody is named here yet, because we have not done that work on this entry. Read that as unfinished. Somebody almost certainly sells this, and somebody almost certainly disputes it. Assume both until we have checked.

Set against the alternatives

Malleables are cheaper, faster to implant, and require no dexterity, but inflatable devices give a more natural flaccid and erect state and higher cosmetic satisfaction in most cohorts. They are chosen when simplicity, dexterity, or salvage circumstances outweigh the flaccidity advantage of an IPP.

The market for this

What follows describes how this is bought and sold. It is not a buying guide and it is not an endorsement of any seller.

Lower device and operative cost than inflatable implants, making them relatively more common in resource-limited settings and in salvage scenarios.

At a glance

Pieces
1 (paired rods, no pump/reservoir)
Tactra core
Nitinol nickel-titanium alloy, dual-layer silicone
Genesis
Only malleable with antibiotic/hydrophilic coating
Tactra FDA
April 2019

What this entry does not yet cover

What follows is unfinished work on our side, not a finding about Malleable Penile Implants. A short entry is not a safe entry.

  • Timeline. We have not built the dated record of research and regulatory events.
  • Supply chain. We have not mapped where it is made.
  • Who uses it. We have not documented the user groups.
  • What could change. No forward-looking summary yet.
  • Children and teenagers. We have not checked what is known about younger people.
  • Where we land. We have not taken a position on this yet.

Sources

The studies below are named and described, but not linked. You cannot open them from here and check our reading against them, which means this page is our summary of the literature rather than a document you can verify. Weigh it accordingly until the links exist.

The studies that matter

  • Genesis vs Spectra satisfaction (EDITS)2016

    Overall satisfaction ~77.1% (Genesis) vs ~75.6% (Spectra); no significant difference across the 11 EDITS criteria

  • Tactra multi-institutional early case seriesreported

    Described feasibility and early outcomes of the Nitinol-core Tactra