ABSTRACT
Currently about one-third of patients newly diagnosed with prostate cancer are treated with radical prostatectomy, an operation that has a low risk of mortality but may have a profound impact on quality of life.1 Once condemned as a procedure fraught with unacceptable morbidity, radical prostatectomy has experienced a renaissance since Walsh’s description of the anatomic approach to prostatectomy. The procedure continues to evolve, most recently including laparoscopic and robotic modifications, in an attempt to reduce its morbidity. Despite these improvements, anastomotic contractures (AC), along with erectile dysfunction and incontinence, remain the most common postoperative complications. In the Medicare population, treatments to relieve bladder neck contractures were the most commonly performed procedures related to complications after radical prostatectomy.2 Since the number of patients undergoing radical prostatectomy has dramatically increased and will likely continue to do so in this prostate specific antigen (PSA) era, the urologist must be well versed in the management of the long-term complications associated with the procedure.
