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A radical prostatectomy is an operation that removes the whole prostate, seminal vesicles and the tissue immediately surrounding them and is performed to remove prostate cancer.

Because prostate cancer is scattered throughout the prostate gland in an unpredictable way, removal of only a part of the prostate could potentially leave cancer cells behind and for that reason the whole prostate is removed.

Radical prostatectomy can be performed by several techniques all of which achieve the same end result – total removal of the prostate gland and any associated prostate cancer. The operation can be performed robotically assisted by the da Vinci robot, via a laparoscopic technique or via the open technique which requires a small lower abdominal incision. The information in this document refers specifically to the open technique.