Comparing the short-term outcomes and complications of monopolar and bipolar transurethral resection of non-muscle invasive bladder cancers: a prospective, randomized, controlled study.

Objectives: To compare perioperative outcomes and complications of plasmakinetic bipolar and monopolar transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TURBT) in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

Methods: Between March and December 2015, a total of 130 consecutive patients underwent TURBT for NMIBC. Patients were equally randomized into monopolar TURBT (M-TURBT) and bipolar TURBT (B-TURBT) groups. Primary outcome of this study was safety of the procedures including obturator jerk, bladder perforation, clot retention, febrile urinary tract infection and TUR syndrome. The secondary outcome was efficacy of both TURBT procedures, including complete tumor resection, sampling of the deep muscle tissue and sampling of the qualified tissues that without any thermal damage.

Results: Complete tumor resection rate was higher in B-TURBT than M-TURBT (89.2% vs 78.5%, respectively), but the difference was not significant (p=0.152). No significant differences were found between the muscle tissue sampling rates (64.6% vs 72.3%, p=0.345) and the numbers of patients with thermal tissue damage (7 patients vs 3 patients, p=0.194). Obturator jerk was detected in 21.5% of the patients in M-TURBT group and 4.6% of the patients in B-TURBT group, and this difference was statistically significant (p=0.013). Bladder perforation was significantly higher in M-TURBT group than B-TURBT (21.5 % vs 6.1%, p=0.039).

Conclusions: Bipolar TURBT had significantly lower obturator jerk and bladder perforation than monopolar. B- TURBT is a reasonable treatment modality in patients with NMIBC.