Influence of anaesthesia on blood loss in transurethral prostatectomy

In this study operative blood loss was measured in 177 transurethral prostatectomies performed over a six-year period in one hospital by the author. A comparison was made relative to type of anaesthesia used i.e. general inhalation versus spinal anaesthesia. The two groups were similar in age and physical condition. Their prostates were almost the same size and there was negligible difference in the rate of resection between the two groups. Mean loss and median loss in 113 patients given general anaesthesia were 66.6 and 29.9 ml. In 64 patients who had spinal anaesthesia these losses were 35.6 and 22.2 ml respectively. The findings are in agreement with two of the three previous studies devoted to the relationship between operative blood loss during transurethral prostatectomy and the type of anaesthesia used.