Could transurethral resection of the prostate using the TURis system take over conventional monopolar transurethral resection of the prostate? A randomized controlled trial and midterm results.

Objective: To assess whether bipolar transurethral resection of the prostate using the TURis (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan) system demonstrates comparable efficacy and safety reporting 36 months of follow-up findings.

Methods: The trial was registered at University hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry in Japan (trial number UMIN 000010801). Patients were randomly selected to undergo transurethral resection of the prostate using either the TURis or the conventional monopolar technique. Primary end points were safety according to operation time, decline of sodium and hemoglobin levels, clot retention, and catheterization time. Secondary end points were efficacy findings for patients after 36 months of follow-up.

Results: A total of 136 patients were enrolled. Mean operation times were significantly prolonged in the TURis group (68.4 and 79.5 minutes for monopolar and TURis groups, respectively; P = .048). No significant differences in the decline of hemoglobin, hematocrit, and perioperative transfusion rates between groups were seen, whereas clot retention (grade 2) after the treatment seemed to occur more often in the monopolar group (7 of 62 [12.3%] in monopolar group vs 1 of 63 [1/8%] in TURis group; P = .061). No case presented symptomatic transurethral resection syndrome in either groups.

Conclusion: Continued efficacy at 36 months after the treatment could be confirmed for the first time in TURis system, which also seems to be preferable as they produced more clinically favorable outcomes. Nevertheless, the TURis system required significantly more resection time, which might not entirely be a panacea for the treatment of benign prostatic obstruction, especially for patients having larger prostatic volumes.