MR. TERENCE MILLIN'S method of extravesical prostatectomy has proved its merit clinically in the past three years. The retropubic approach is fundamentally not a new procedure, but Mr. Millin has developed it as a simple and successful method. We will discuss briefly the technic,1 will recount our experience with retropubic prostatectomy2 and will report the application of the retropubic approach in the treatment of obstructions of the vesical neck in infants and children.
The retropubic prostatectomy employs extravesical approach to the prostate gland, which is, though seemingly infrequently appreciated, an extravesical structure. In other words, by this approach one does not go through the bladder to attack a pathologic condition that lies outside the bladder, as is commonly practiced in the popular Freyer, or suprapubic, method.
The prostate is exposed through either a longitudinal or a transverse suprapubic incision which includes both skin and fascia of the rectus