Safety and efficiency of thulium laser prostate resection for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia in large prostates

Thulium laser resection of the prostate-tangerine technique (TmLRP-TT) dissects whole prostatic lobes off the surgical capsule, similar to peeling a tangerine. The present study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of TmLRP-TT for older symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia patients with large prostates during 18 months of follow-up. A prospective analysis of 95 consecutive patients with large prostates (> 80 ml) who underwent surgical treatment using TmLRP-TT was carried out. All patients were evaluated preoperatively and at 1, 6, 12, and 18 months postoperatively by the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), quality of life (QoL), maximum urinary flow rate (Q (max)), postvoid residual urine volume (PVR), International Index of Erectile Function 5 (IIEF-5), urine analysis, and urine culture. Perioperative complications were recorded and graded by the modified Clavien classification system (CCS). Mean preoperative prostate volume was 106.81 +/- 24.79 ml. TmLRP-TT was successfully completed in all patients. The mean operative duration, catheterization time, and hospital stay were 95.36 +/- 27.06 min, 2.25 +/- 0.9 days, and 5.39 +/- 1.18 days, respectively. The decrease in mean hemoglobin level was 1.23 +/- 0.72 g/dl, and that in mean serum sodium level was 0.71 +/- 2.56 mmol/l. Within the observation period of 18 months, the patients showed an improvement in IPSS (20.01 +/- 7.08 vs. 4.96 +/- 3.68), QoL (4.10 +/- 1.16 vs. 1.23 +/- 1.30), Q (max) (8.14 +/- 3.81 ml/s vs. 18.33 +/- 2.56 ml/s) and PVR (102.70 +/- 70.64 ml vs. 20.28 +/- 30.02 ml), compared with baseline values (P < 0.001). IIEF-5 remained stable. Minor complications occurred in 10 (10.52 %) of 95 patients (Clavien grade 1, 9.47 % and grade 2, 1.05 %). There were no severe complications requiring reintervention (Clavien grade 3, 0 % and grade 4, 0 %). TmLRP-TT is a safe and effective surgical endoscopic technique associated with a low complication rate in large prostates as assessed during an 18-month follow-up period. It is a promising technology, which may be considered as one of the alternatives to open simple prostatectomy (OP) for large prostates in the future.