Between July 1989 and June 1994 32 men (48-73 years old) underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy for prostate cancer. 26 patients (70%) presented with symptoms of bladder outflow obstruction. The primary tumour was understaged preoperatively in 5 patients (15.5%). At follow-up (6-66 months, average 24) significant urinary incontinence not occurred in our patients; sixty-two per cent reported a substantial problem with reduced or absent erection. A total of 23 patients was free of clinical or biochemical progression, observed in 28% of cases as distant or local progression. Radical prostatectomy is being performed with increasing frequency: trends in morbidity have been identified.