Minimally invasive surgical modalities in the management of localized prostate cancer

Localized prostate cancer is one of the success stories of modern oncology, with radical treatments offering long-term cancer-specific survival for most patients. In fact, most men with this condition die from nonprostate cancer diseases rather than from their prostate cancer. Open radical prostatectomy has been the gold standard radical treatment for localized prostate cancer, but a new dawn is emerging. Novel minimally invasive modalities are now available, and include both minimally invasive prostatectomy as well as newer energy sources such as high-intensity focused ultrasound. This review summarizes these newer technologies, in terms of technique, as well as both oncological and functional outcomes to date. The ultimate goal of such novel minimally invasive modalities is to continue to improve on the functional outcomes without compromise to the oncological results of the gold standard.