ABSTRACT
Radical prostatectomy removes the prostate together with the bladder neck sphincter mechanism and encroaches, commonly, on the upper end of the urethral sphincter mechanism. The surgeon then puts sutures through the remaining or reconstructed bladder neck and through the urethral sphincter mechanism to perform the necessary vesicourethral anastomosis to complete the procedure. With this surgically damaged and sutured reconstruction and with the inevitable postoperative edema the patient depends on his future continence. Clearly, if this process has been exacerbated by preoperative radiotherapy of any sort, to add its own toll of tissue damage, then the anastomosis and its subsequent healing will be further compromised.
