Measuring blood loss during transurethral resections

Blood loss was measured in 70 patients during the transurethral resection for bladder neck adenoma and prostatic tumour on the basis of the haemoglobin content of the irrigation fluid, and the factors influencing blood loss were assessed. In 20 patients an irrigation fluid of body temperature was used. Their investigations have not proved the irrigation fluid of a higher temperature to be of a bleeding-inducing effect. It was stated that the absolute amount of bleeding was directly proportional to the weight of the resected tissue and the time of resection. These data revealed that a blood loss/1g of resected material/1 min of resection time does not increase with a larger resection weight or during a longer operation.