SAN DIEGO, CA USA (UroToday.com) - Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is a commonly performed procedure to relieve bladder outlet obstruction and improve lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Unfortunately, many patients have persistent LUTS post-TURP and require continual medication after surgery. Dr. Chih Chieh Lin and colleagues conducted a study to investigate whether the resected prostate weight is a predictive factor of need for continual medication after TURP.
To investigate this they utilized the subset of the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan, which contains data of all medical-benefit claims and covers most of Taiwan’s population. They included all patients who had undergone a TURP from 2006 to 2009. All patients were followed for a minimum of 6 months postoperatively. Because the claim code differed according to the resected prostate weight, patients were subdivided into three subgroups: small (< 15 grams), medium (15~50 grams), and large (> 50 grams). The use of an α-blocker, antimuscarinic, or bethanechol at 3 and 6 months after TURP was recorded, if medication had been taken for more than 14 days.
Their study results demonstrated that among the total population of 22.8 million residents, 33 905 patients underwent a TURP. The small group consisted of 14 511 patients, the medium group 16 487 patients, and the large group 2 907 patients. They found that the small group had a higher risk for use of α-blocker, antimuscarinics, or bethanechol than the large group at both 3 months and 6 months post-TURP.
In conclusion, this study found that a smaller volume of resected prostate is a predictive factor for continual medication use after TURP. This suggests that patients with smaller volume prostates might not benefit from TURP in similar fashion to those with larger prostates.
Presented by Chih Chieh Lin at the American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting - May 4 - 8, 2013 - San Diego Convention Center - San Diego, California USA
Department of Urology, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Reported for UroToday.com by Michael Ordon, MD; UC Irvine Medical Center, Orange, CA USA
