Surgical outcomes for men undergoing laparoscopic radical prostatectomy after transurethral resection of the prostate

We reviewed outcomes for men with a history of transurethral prostate resection who underwent laparoscopic radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer.

Between January 26, 1998 and December 2006, 3,061 men underwent laparoscopic radical prostatectomy at our institution. A retrospective review showed that 119 had a history of transurethral prostate resection. These men were compared to randomized matched controls with regard to operative and postoperative outcomes. The matching criteria used to randomly select patients were clinical stage, preoperative prostate specific antigen and biopsy Gleason score.

Mean +/- SD age in the groups with and without transurethral prostate resection was 66.2 +/- 5.6 and 60.7 +/- 7.0 years, respectively (p <0.01). Mean estimated blood loss, transfusion rate, pathological prostate volume and reoperation rate were statistically similar between the groups. Mean length of stay for the groups with and without transurethral prostate resection was 6.5 +/- 3.0 and 5.29 +/- 2.3 days, respectively (p <0.01). Mean operative time for the groups with and without transurethral prostate resection was 179 +/- 44 and 171 +/- 38 minutes, respectively (p = 0.02). Positive margins were seen in 21.8% and 12.6% of the patients with and without transurethral prostate resection, respectively (p = 0.02). A total of 64 complications were seen in patients with a history of transurethral prostate resection compared to 34 in those without such a history (p <0.01).

We report that patients with a history of transurethral prostate resection who undergo laparoscopic radical prostatectomy have worse outcomes with respect to operative time, length of stay, positive margin rate and overall complication rate. This subset of patients should be made aware of these potential risks before undergoing laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.