Dr. Schlegel, of the Dept. of Urology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, explains common expectations for patients entering into prostate cancer surgery and what factors those expectations are founded upon.

Dr. Schlegel The outcomes from surgical treatment of prostate cancer are dependent on the patient's age, on the extent of the tumor, and to some degree the experience and results that an individual surgeon gets. Some of the most important information that a patient can get about someone who is going to operate on them is what kind of results can that patient expect in that surgeons hands. For men who are younger, are in their fifties, sometimes 80% or more will have recovery of sexual function. A vast majority of men, over 95% typically will have recovery of urinary control and patients do extremely well. Those are results that are typically achieved at centers of excellence or sites where people have a lot of experience ein the operation and those are reliable results.