Laparoscopic simple prostatectomy vs bipolar plasma enucleation of the prostate in large benign prostatic hyperplasia. a two-center 3-year comparison

Purpose: To compare surgery outcomes and safety of button bipolar enucleation of the prostate vs laparoscopic simple prostatectomy in patients with large prostates (> 80 g) in a two-center cohort study. Methods: All patients with lower urinary tract symptoms due to benign prostatic enlargement (Prostate volume > 80 cc) undergoing button bipolar enucleation of the prostate (BTUEP) or laparoscopic simple prostatectomy (LSP) in two centers were enrolled. Data on clinical history, physical examination, urinary symptoms, uroflowmetry and prostate volume were collected at 0, 1, 3 6, 12, 24 and 36 months. Early and long-term complications were recorded. Results: Overall, 296 patients were enrolled. Out of them, 167/296 (56%) performed a LSP and 129/296 (44%) performed a BTUEP. In terms of efficacy both procedures showed durable results at three years with a reintervention rate of 8% in the LSP group and of 5% in the BTUEP group. In terms of safety, BTUEP and LSP presented similar safety profiles with a 9% of transfusion rate and no major complications. Conclusion: LSP and BTUEP are safe and effective in treating large-volume adenomas with durable results at three years when performed in experienced centers

Low-cost semirigid ureteroscopy is effective for ureteral stones: Experience of a single high volume center

Aim of the study: To demonstrate how, in a center with a large number of patients, as our center is, it is possible to perform ureterolithotripsy using a limited set of instruments. Methods: We evaluated medical charts of our center related to semirigid ureteral ureteroscopy (URS) with ureterolithotripsy using Holmium laser performed from July 2004 to July 2011. Overall, 658 URS for ureteral stones were performed in 601 patients, of which 204 in proximal ureter (31%), 86 in the mid (13.06%) and 368 (57.76%) in the distal ureter. In 504 patients (76.5%) ureterohydronephrosis (Grade II-III) was observed. In 57 patients (8.6%), we performed a bilateral approach at the same time, but most patients had a solitary distal ureteral stone. 106 patients (16.1%) had more than one stone in their distal ureter and 96 (14.8%) had a proximal ureteral stone treated in the same surgery as well. Results: The overall stone-free rate for ureteral stones was 86.1% (567/658). Success rates for proximal, medial and distal ureteral stones were 68.13% (139/204 patients), 84.8% (73/86 patients) and 96.4% (355/368 patients), respectively. One hundred and twenty patients (18.3%) required additional surgical treatment for their stones beyond the initial URS, including a second URS in 97 patients (14.74%) and URS plus Retrograde Intra-Renal Surgery (RIRS) in 23 patients (3.54%). The overall stonefree rate after the second treatment was 99.3%. Intra-operative complications accounted for 5.92% and consisted of ureteral perforations in 16 pts (2.4%), erosions of urothelium leading to significant bleeding in 15 pts (2.27%), severe pain in 4 pts (0.6%), fever in 3 pts (0.45%) and one case of ureteral avulsion (0.15%). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the use of Holmium laser lithotripsy is a safe and effective means of treating ureteral stones regardless of sex, age, stone location, or stone size. The instrumentation we used was extremely limited, in order to reduce costs related to the procedure to an absolute minimum whilst maintaining the two quality indicators for the procedure, namely success rate and length of hospitalisation (86.1% and 34 hours)

Comparative randomized study on the efficaciousness of endoscopic bipolar prostate resection versus monopolar resection technique. 3 year follow-up

Objective: Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is the current optimal thera- py for the relief of bladder outflow obstruction, with subjective and objective success rate of 85 to 90%. Aim of this study was to evaluate efficacy and safety of Plasmakinetic ener- gy (Gyrus electro surgical system), which produces vaporization of tissue immersed in isotonic saline against standard monopolar transurethral resection of the prostate. Methods: From January 2002 to April 2002, 160 consecutive patients, who had low urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were enrolled in this study. Patients were randomised to undergo bipolar TURP (80 patients) or monopolar TURP (80 patients). Preoperative work-up was assessed by administering IPSS, IIEF-5 and Qol questionnaires. All patients were submitted to uroflowmetry, transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), post-voidal residual urine measurement and PSA determination. In the two groups, IPSS, IIEF-5 and Qol, uroflowme- try, TRUS, post-voidal residual urine measurement, PSA determination and number of reopera- tions were evaluated at 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months follow up, and then every year. Furthermore, in both groups operative time, resected tissue weight and perioperative complica- tions were analysed. Total postoperative catheter time, total post-operative hospital stay, haemo- globin loss were also recorded in the two groups. Results: Comparative data on IPSS symptom score, IIEF-5, Qol, PSA, peak urinary flow rate and post-void residual urine volume were similar in the two groups but showed a significant improve- ment respect to baseline values. The postoperative haemoglobin levels, postoperative catheteri- zation time, hospital stay and 3-year overall surgical re-treatment-free rate were significantly better in the bipolar group. Conclusions: Bipolar TURP has a comparable outcome to standard monopolar TURP at short and medium term regard to subjective and objective outcome measurements. Its impact on blad- der outlet function is also similar to that of monopolar TURP. Improvement in IPSS, Qol index, IIEF-5, Qmax and post-void residual urine volume were comparable in both group denoting sim- ilar efficacy of the techniques