[Current status of radical laparoscopic prostatectomy]

Laparoscopic surgery can be said to have come of age when it was first indicated for cancer conditions. Advances in this field are largely due to the French school, which has made it a standard practise in prostate cancer. It complies with the principles required for cancer as well as conventional surgery, but it remains to be verified whether its long-term results, both from tumoral and functional perspectives, are not only similar to those of classical surgery, but even better. In fact, increasing numbers of clinical groups are incorporating this technique in their daily work.