Quality of life of patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH): endoscopic surgery versus laser therapy.

Objective: To compare the results observed in the quality of life of patients after transurethral prostate resection (bipolar TUR) or laser therapy.

Methods: This is a retrospective observational cohort study: one cohort includes patients who underwent endoscopic surgery, and the other patients undergoing laser therapy (vaporization). A total of 106 patients were included, divided into two cohorts. Two questionnaires were prepared for those who fulfilled inclusion criteria, the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), two months before and six months after the date of surgery, and Benign Prostate Hyperplasia Patient Impact Measure (BPH - PIM) six months after surgery. We consider a statistical significance level, p 〈 0.05% and a confidence interval (CI) of 95%.

Results: Mean prostate size was 55 cc in the endoscopic surgery cohort versus 40 cc in the laser therapy cohort (p = 0.02). 35.8% of patients treated with laser therapy had urinary irritative symptoms compared with 6.3% in the endoscopic surgery group (p = 0.01). Within the laser group, 26.4% of patients had urine leakage compared to 4.4% among those operated by bipolar TUR (p = 0,03). 86.7% of patients in the cohort of bipolar TUR were fully satisfied after surgery compared to 53.6% of the laser therapy cohort (p = 0.03).

Conclusion: In this retrospective observational cohort study, the patients of LBO laser therapy cohort had a worse quality of life the following six months after surgery compared to those who underwent bipolar transurethral resection.