In Reply to Kelly et al

We completely agree with Mr Kelly about the necessity of an accurate preoperative staging that would allow planning the prostatic resection before surgery. However, prostatic involvement by the rectal tumour is sometimes diagnosed only intra-operatively and the decision about the best resection plane is difficult and based on the surgeon's experience. When a partial prostatectomy is performed, the urethral damage is the main intra- operative complication. In our experience, the use of a flexible urethral probe often does not prevent from urethral injuries. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.