Objective
We aim to retrospectively assess that over the two decades, whether medical therapy has changed indications, patient characteristics and outcomes in men undergoing TURP (1992-2013).
Methods
At our institution, medical history of all patients undergoing surgery before 1998, between 2001 and 2003, and between 2011 and 2013 was reviewed. Patient demographics, preoperative clinical profile, clinical management and operative complications were assessed.
Results
1157 patients were enrolled in the study. Mean ages of patients increased from 67.0 to 70.4 years old over the past two decades. Furthermore, comorbidities increased significantly as well. Although prostate size and weight of resected tissue increased from 57.3 to 92.3 g and from 24.3 to 36.6 g, while surgical time decreased from 78.21 to 72.29 minutes. From 2011 to 2013, patients undergoing surgery had their catheters remove earlier (from 5.7 to 4.5 days), whose post-operative days in hospital were shorter (from 9.3 to 4.4 days). Although operative complications decreased from 12.3% to 5.7%, especially bleeding, re-operation due to bleeding increased from 0.4% to 2.7%. Moreover, no statistical difference was observed in operative complications between patients with medical therapy and those without medical therapy.
Conclusions
The increasing application of medical therapy resulted in surgical interventions delay. The prostate size was significantly greater, as was the weight of resected tissue. Although patients with medication were older with more comorbidities and larger prostates, surgical techniques advancements have benefited them and TURP is still considered as a safe and recommendable surgical treatment.
