What should you know about surgery to remove prostate cancer?

A prostatectomy removes the prostate gland and may include the seminal vesicles and nearby lymph nodes when the clinical plan calls for it. The surgeon reconnects the bladder to the urethra, and a catheter is usually used while this connection heals.

The operation may be open, laparoscopic, or robot-assisted. The choice depends on tumour features, anatomy, previous treatment, surgeon expertise, and your preferences. Other options for selected people include radiotherapy, brachytherapy, or active monitoring; advanced disease may need treatments aimed at cancer outside the prostate.

Ask how to prepare your pelvic floor, when the catheter will be removed, and what activity or lifting limits apply. Discuss possible urine leakage, erection changes, fertility, orgasm, and how these concerns can be treated. Bring a medicine list and tell the team about bowel, urinary, or heart problems.

After surgery, follow catheter and wound instructions, drink as advised, walk gently, and attend pathology and follow-up visits. Pelvic floor exercises may help urinary control when the team says they are appropriate. Robotic surgery changes the access method, not the need for careful recovery.

Contact your surgical team for fever, worsening pelvic pain, increasing wound redness, pus-like drainage, persistent vomiting, or a catheter that stops draining. Seek urgent care for heavy bleeding, severe weakness, chest pain, sudden breathlessness, or a painful swollen leg.

Ask why prostatectomy is recommended, whether lymph nodes will be sampled, and whether nerve-sparing is suitable. Ask how the catheter is managed, what urinary and sexual changes to expect, what rehabilitation is available, and how radiotherapy or other treatment would fit if cancer remains.