THE ROLE OF RADICAL SURGERY IN THE TREATMENT OF PROSTATIC-CANCER

At present, prostatic cancer is the most common malignancy in men in m any Western countries and its incidence is continuously increasing. Ra dical prostatectomy has been used for over 80 years, but there is stil l controversy about its role in the treatment of localized prostatic c ancer. Because of insufficient knowledge of the natural history of pro static cancer and a lack of accurate prognostic factors there are poss ibilities for both over- and undertreatment. Better staging methods ar e also required to discriminate between intra- and extracapsular tumou rs, which is essential for curative treatment. On the basis of the fac ts mentioned above and because of the poor sensitivity and specificity of transrectal palpation, ultrasound examination and prostate-specifi c antigen, which are used in screening, diagnosing and staging of pros tatic cancer, screening is not yet recommended for the detection of ea rly prostatic cancer.