[The management of bleeding following transurethral prostatic resection by local irrigation with a thrombin solution]

The clinical value of local irrigation of thrombin was studied in 30 patients with urethral bleeding following transurethral prostatic resection. A thrombin solution consisting of 25,000 units of thrombin in 500 ml of saline was irrigated in 20 patients through the especially designed three-way balloon catheter at a speed of 8.3 ml/min for five hours after the operation while sterile saline was irrigated in the same manner in 10 patients as a control. The hemostatic effect of thrombin solution was evaluated as excellent in 2 patients (10%), good in 5 (25%), moderate in 6 (30%), and poor in 2 (10%) with 5 drop outs (25%) in the thrombin irrigating group. In the control group, the effect of irrigation was evaluated as good in 1 patient (10%), moderate in 4 (40%), poor in 2 (20%), and unable to be estimated in 2 (20%) with 1 drop out (10%). Therefore the rate of overall effectiveness was 65% in the thrombin irrigating group and 50% in the control group and volume of postoperative blood loss was 0.58 ml/g X hour and 0.62 ml/g X hour, respectively. Though almost all of the patients in both groups showed a moderate elevation of fibrinogen in serum, there was no adverse effect considered to be caused by thrombin irrigation. The local irrigation of the thrombin solution is a useful method and safe in the management of bleeding following transurethral prostatic resection.