Planned preoperative radiation therapy is not used in treating prostate cancer because radiation damages the blood supply to the tissues so they do not heal as well after high doses of radiation. Such radiation makes the complications and side effects of radical prostatectomy far more likely than if the tissues had not received radiation. Sometimes, so-called “salvage” radical prostatectomy is performed in patients who were treated initially with radiation and subsequently have a cancer recurrence. Salvage prostatectomy is associated with a far greater risk for complications and is substantially less likely to cure the cancer.