Retrospective Cohort Trial of the Effectiveness of Plasma Surgery for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia of Large and Giant Sizes

Background. Over the past 10 years, the incidence of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) over 80 cm³ has increased 3–4 times. With indications for surgical treatment, transurethral methods are increasingly used today with the use of laser or plasma techniques for resection and enucleation of the prostate. The article presents a comparative analysis of the results of plasma transurethral enucleation of the prostate (P-TUEP) and open prostatectomy, methods of surgical and drug prevention of dysuric complications, which indicates the primacy of the choice of P-TUEP in large and giant BPH surgery. Aims — to prove the effectiveness of the use of plasma surgical methods and the scheme of complex medical postoperative prevention of late dysuric and cicatricial complications in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia of large and giant sizes. Methods. The design of a retrospective cohort trial included several stages conducted at the urological center of the clinical hospital “RZD-Medicine”, Nizhny Novgorod in 2008–2019. The object of the study were patients with a confirmed diagnosis of large BPH (over 80 cm³) and giant (over 250 cm³) size, divided into the main and control groups according to the methods of surgical intervention and postoperative prevention of dysuric complications. The selection of patients was carried out by the method of “paired design” with an equal number of observations and maximum comparability of the initial parameters. Data analysis was carried out using the methods of parametric and nonparametric statistics, multivariate statistical analysis. Results. Comparison of the results of P-TUEP (n = 122) and open prostatectomy (n = 122) in groups of patients with large and giant BPH showed the possibility of reducing intraoperative blood loss by 1.5 times, the duration of bladder catheterization — by 3.8 times, the frequency of early postoperative complications — by 1.7 times and the duration of hospitalization — by 2.9 times, which significantly saves hospital costs. Modification of the initial stage of P-TUEP, which consists in creating access to the prostate using new anatomical landmarks to maximize the preservation of the anterior fibrostromal complex, reduces the risk of trauma to the external urethral sphincter, which was proven by a three-fold decrease in the frequency of stress incontinence after surgery. In order to prevent late dysuric and cicatricial complications of P-TUEP, a scheme of complex medical postoperative prophylaxis with the use of a hyaluronic acid preparation was developed. It has been histologically and clinically confirmed that instillations of a hyaluronic acid solution into the bladder in combination with standard postoperative therapy make it possible to accelerate reparative processes by 2–4 times and get rid of irritative symptoms at 6–12 postoperative weeks, depending on the volume of removed BPH. Conclusion. The validity of the use, clinical and economic efficiency, high safety profile and the primacy of the choice of P-TUEP in surgery of large and giant BPH, including its modified technique and a comprehensive scheme of drug prevention of late complications, have been proven.