Summary of Article from the Journal Urology:

Quality of Life After Open or Robotic prostatectomy, Cryoablation or brachytherapy for Localized Prostate Cancer.

J Urol. 2010 Mar 17 [Epub ahead of print]

Malcolm JB, Fabrizio MD, Barone BB, et al.

785 patients were included in a study by the authors to compare quality of life outcomes after being treated for prostate cancer.  The study was conducted between February 2000 and December 2008 and all patients treated with open radical prostatectomy, robot assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy, brachytherapy or cryotherapy were asked to complete a quality of life survey for up to 36 months after treatment.  The article states that all health related quality of life symptoms were negatively affected by all treatments and recovery profiles varied significantly by treatment type.  However, urinary function scores were significantly higher after brachytherapy and cryotherapy compared to radical prostatectomy and robotic assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy. In addition, sexual function scores were the highest after brachytherapy, with a 5 times higher rate of return to baseline function compared to cryotherapy, open radical prostatectomy and laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.