A prospective randomised controlled study comparing bipolar plasma vaporisation of the prostate to monopolar transurethral resection of the prostate

Abstract Objectives To compare the safety and efficacy of bipolar transurethral plasma vaporisation (B-TUVP) as an alternative to the ‘gold standard’ monopolar transurethral resection of the prostate (M-TURP) for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in a prospective randomised controlled study. Patients and methods In all, 82 patients indicated for prostatectomy were assigned to two groups, group I (40 patients) underwent B-TUVP and group II (42 patients) underwent M-TURP. The safety of both techniques was evaluated by reporting perioperative changes in serum Na + , serum K + , haematocrit (packed cell volume), and any perioperative complications. For the efficacy assessment, patients were evaluated subjectively by comparing the improvement in International Prostate Symptom Score and objectively by measuring the maximum urinary flow rate ( Q max ) and post-void residual urine volume (PVR) before and after the procedures. Results In group II, there was a significant perioperative drop in serum Na + (from 137.5 to 129.4 mmol/L) and haematocrit (from 42.9% to 38.2%) (both P Conclusion B-TUPV seems to be safer than M-TURP; however, the lack of a tissue specimen and the relatively high retreatment rate are major disadvantages of the B-TUVP technique. Moreover, M-TURP appears to be more effective than B-TUPV and its safety can be improved by careful case selection and adequate haemostasis.