BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- For men with prostate cancer, use of robot-assisted, minimally-invasive procedures to remove the prostate gland has gained popularity in the past years, jumping from 1 percent of all procedures in 2001 to 40 percent in 2006.

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital compared outcomes at the time of surgery and in the months following for more than 9,000 men undergoing prostate surgery and found that the traditional prostatectomy may offer better long-term outcomes for patients.

While studies have shown that those undergoing the minimally invasive procedure did have shorter hospital stays and fewer miscellaneous surgical complications, these men were also more likely to have urinary complications, incontinence, and erectile dysfunction in the months following surgery.

Since both procedures were equally successful at controlling patients' cancer, researchers believed that while minimally-invasive procedures draw from more recent technology, these newer procedures are not necessarily better.