Treatment of Early Cancer of the Prostate

RADICAL PERINEAL PROSTATECTOMY for clinically localized prostatic cancer was first advocated and performed by the late Dr. Hugh H. Young in 1904. Although 444 patients had been operated on at the Johns Hopkins Hospital as of May 1, 1962, this number represented only a small percentage of patients with this disease who were suitable subjects for the operation. Nevertheless, general interest in radical perineal prostatectomy has increased, partly because in the last 15 years there has been a sharp reduction in mortality rates and complications, and partly because most cases of prostatic cancer, when too far advanced for this operation, have not been effectively controlled over the long term by endocrine manipulation. The purpose of this study is to compare the results of radical perineal prostatectomy after 15 years with those results obtained simply by endocrine treatment of a group of roughly comparable cases, thereby showing that this increased interest