To investigate the efficacy and safety of green laser vaporization enucleation of the prostate with end-fire fiber in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

The clinical data of 218 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia admitted to Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital from August 2018 to July 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. All 218 patients presented symptoms of varying degrees of frequent voiding, urgency, nocturia, and progressive dysuria, with age of(76.2±8.4) years, prostate volume of(77.3±21.6) ml, and preoperative PSA of (3.5±0.9)ng/ml, preoperative maximum urine flow rate (Qmax)of(7.9±1.8)ml/s, residual urine volume of(82.3±26.3)ml, quality of life score(QOL) of(4.9±1.1)points, and International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) of (25.4±7.6) points. Lithotomy position was used intraoperatively, and intravenous combined general anesthesia or intraspinal anesthesia was performed before the green laser vaporization enucleation of the prostate. Intraoperatively, green laser equipment used a vaporization power of 80W, an optical fiber with a end-fire fiber of 800μm in diameter, and hemostasis power of 20W. The surgical procedure was firstly to vaporize and cut 3 grooves from the bladder neck to the ejaculatory hole plane of the prostate at 5, 7 and 12 o'clock, reaching deep enough to expose the surgical capsule, in order to set up" three lines and one side" anatomical landmarks. A combination of sheath peeling and vaporization cutting along the envelope layer was used to enucleate the hyperplastic glands according to the " three-leaf " method. After enucleation, the tissue was pushed into the bladder, and the enucleated tissue was crushed and aspirated with a tissue morcellation. Perioperative and postoperative parameters including vaporized enucleation time, tissue morcellation time, hemoglobin changes, bladder irrigating time, indwelling catheterization time, postoperative hospital stay, postoperative Qmax, residual urine volume, postoperative complications, IPSS and QOL were recorded. Urgency with involuntary urine leakage was diagnosed as urge incontinence, involuntary urine leakage after coughing was diagnosed as stress urinary incontinence, and the incontinence degree was defined according to the amount of pad used, with mild of 1-2 pads/day, moderate of 3-4 pads/day, and severe of 5 or more pads/day.

All 218 operations were successfully completed. Capsule perforation occurred in 8 cases(3.7%), and there was no bladder perforation. The time of vaporization and enucleation was (42.5±8.3)min, and the time of tissue morcellation was(12.1±3.4)min. The intraoperative and postoperative hemoglobin loss was(4.7±1.3)g/L, and there were no blood transfusion or re-operation for stopping bleeding. The average bladder irrigation time after operation was(6.3±1.6)h, the average indwelling catheterization time was(1.2±0.2)days, and the average postoperative hospital stay was (2.2±0.7)days. The Qmax 1 month after operation was(18.5±4.8) ml/s, and the residual urine volume of the bladder was(6.4±1.9)ml, which showed a statistical difference compared with the preoperative parameters(P<0.01). In addition, the QOL(2.1±0.4) and IPSS(7.1±2.1)showed a statistical difference at 3 months follow-up, compared with the parameters before or 1 month after the operation(P<0.01). The volume of the prostate at 3 months after the operation was(34.6±6.3) ml, and the PSA was(2.4± 0.5) ng/ml, which was statistically different from the preoperative corresponding parameters(P<0.01). During the follow-up within one year, 11 cases were detected incontinence during the 1-month follow up, including 6 cases of urge incontinence. After drug treatment, good continence achieved 3 months after the operation. The other 5 cases had stress urinary incontinence, 3 of whom got good continence after the drugs treatment and pelvic floor muscle exercise, and two patients recovered to one pad per day. A total of 24 cases of urethral stricture were found during the 12-month follow-up, including 16 cases of anterior urethral stricture, which was treated with 3 months of regular urethral dilation. Another 8 cases had bladder neck contracture, and were treated by bladder neck resection and regular urethral dilatation. All of them did not recur 6 months after the procedure.

The end-fire green laser vaporization enucleation of the prostate has the advantages of short operation time, less intraoperative bleeding, and obvious improvement in postoperative symptom scores. The short-term effect is obvious, and the long-term effect still needs further study to confirm.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia; Laser surgery; Greenlight laser