Radical Prostatectomy

Radical prostatectomy is an operation to remove the prostate gland and the cancer contained within it. You may be suitable for this treatment if your cancer is thought to be contained within the prostate gland and you are otherwise fit and healthy.

The advantages and disadvantages of all types of surgery depend on your age, health and the stage of your cancer. Your surgeon should discuss this with you.
Advantages
• If the cancer is completely contained within the prostate, surgery will remove all of it.
• The prostate is sent for testing which will give a clearer picture about how aggressive the cancer may be and how far it may have spread.
• It is easy to measure how successful the surgery was, as your PSA should drop to less than 0.1 ng/ml a few weeks after the operation.
• If your PSA starts to rise, you may be able to have further treatment with radiotherapy or hormone therapy.

Disadvantages
• There are risks in having a radical prostatectomy, as with any major operation.
• You will need to stay in hospital and it will take some time to recover afterwards.
• If the cancer has broken out of the prostate gland, the surgeon may not be able to remove all of it.
• There is a high risk of side effects such as erection and urinary problems.
• You will not be able to father children after surgery as the prostate gland, which produces some of the fluid in semen, is removed.