Bowel dysfunction, on the other hand, is more common among men receiving external radiation therapy. In general, men in the radical prostatectomy group recovered some urinary and sexual function during the second year after treatment, while men in the radiotherapy group remained the same or became slightly worse. In general, prostatectomy had very little effect on bowel function while radiotherapy patients experienced a decline in bowel function within the first four months of receiving treatment and recovered some function over the two years. No clear difference in emotional and mental health or overall physical health status was seen between the two groups. Potosky AL, Legler J, Albertsen PC, Stanford JL, Gilliland FD, Hamilton AS, et al.
Radical prostatectomy causes significant sexual dysfunction and some decline in urinary function.
Nevertheless, most men were satisfied with their treatment choice. Stanford JL, Ziding F, Hamilton AS, et al. Urinary and sexual function after radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer. Less than 5 percent of the imaging studies done for newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients showed evidence of metastases. Specifically, less than 5 percent of men with PSAs between four and 20 showed positive bone scans and less than 2 percent of men with Gleason scores of six or less had positive scans.