The majority of patients with bladder outflow obstruction continue to be treated satisfactorily by transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). Worries about mortality, morbidity and cost, combined with the inexorable progress of surgery towards minimally invasive therapies, have produced an array of potential alternatives. Assessment of available data on techniques such as balloon dilatation, prostatic stenting, laser prostatotomy and cryosurgical prostatectomy suggests that stents may prove to be a suitable alternative to TURP in unfit patients. Longer-term follow up is lacking at present.