ABSTRACT
Introduction Over the past two decades, open nerve-sparing radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) has become widely established worldwide as a safe and effective treatment for localized prostate cancer. Recent data from Scandinavia has confirmed that compared with watchful waiting, radical prostatectomy reduces the risk of developing metastases by around 50%, and improves the chances of prostate cancer specific and overall survival.1 Notwithstanding this, open RRP is still a fairly formidable operation to perform, and even more so to undergo. The lower abdominal incision is associated with significant post-operative discomfort, many patients find the period of up to 3 weeks post-operative catheterization tiresome and convalescence is often slow. Although in expert hands cancer clearance rates (i.e. negative surgical margins and no evidence of biochemical failure) are high, and persistent urinary incontinence is unusual, many patients suffer permanent erectile dysfunction which does not always respond to phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors.
