Recently , laser treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is considered as a promising alternative to traditional transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of laser therapy on BPH, we compared
the
results of transurethral balloon laser thermotherapy (TUBALT, n=13) and Hybrid laser prostatectomy (HLP, n=21) with those of TURP (n=25) in 58 patients with mild and moderate BPH. Following data were evaluated at postoperative 1, 3 and 6 months :
AUA
symptoms score (SS), maximal flow rate (Qmax), subjective symptom improvement (SI), postoperative cmplications. All 3 groups show significant improvement after treatment in the Qmax values. Among 3 groups, the Qmax value was lower in TUBALT group
(12.9±3.3ml/sec0 than those in HLP group (15.5±5.2 ml/sec) and TURP group (18.7±5.3 ml/sec) on postoperative 6 months. The Qmax values were not significanlty different between HLP and TURP groups. In the SS values, all 3 groups show
significant
improvement after treatment and, TUBALT 99.9±9.7) and HLP (10.3±9.4) group were comparable to TURP group (5.2±4.2) on postoperative 6 months. In global assessment of SI, both HLP (87.5%) and TUBALT 975%) group were also comparable to TURP
(90%)
group
on postoperative 3 months. But TUBALT group showed delayed symptom improvement compared to TURP group. Postoperative complications were minimal both in HLP and TUBALT groups, compared to TURP group.
These results suggest that both HLP and TUBALT are effective in mild and moderate BPH, Futhermore, HLP treatment could be considered a promising alternative to TURP.
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