To examine the intra- and postoperative morbidity of radical retropubic prostatectomy we analyzed the first 320 consecutive patients with clinical stages T1b, T2a-c and negative lymph nodes by frozen section. Patient age varied from 42 to 75 years (mean 63.5 years). In 74.7% the estimated blood loss was less than 1500 ml. With a preoperative autologous blood collection program the intraoperative blood requirement for homologous blood units was only 15%. Intraoperative complications included rectal injuries with vesical rectal fistulas in 2.5% and ureteral injuries in 1.6%. Within the perioperative period the mortality rate was 0.9%. At 12 months after surgery 199 of 218 men (90.9%) were continent, 5.1% had minimal urinary incontinence, and only 4.6% had urinary incontinence grade III. Postoperatively, PSA (prostate-specific antigen) decreased to < 0.5% in 90.4% of the patients after radical prostatectomy. At 12 months after operation PSA was < 0.5 ng/ml in 83.4%. We conclude that radical retropubic prostatectomy is a safe procedure for the curative treatment of localized prostate cancer.