[1987: the 100th anniversary of transvesical prostatic adenomectomy]

The present study is an attempt to outline the views held with the passage of time on the pathology of prostatic hypertrophy and upon the numerous palliative operations that have been used. As a natural limit, the author close to end the investigation at the beginning of the 20th century, when the principles of radical therapy were defined and accepted. It is demonstrated that a similar limit applies to the question of pathology, as the role of periurethral glands the ffue seat of prostatic hypertrophy was not definitely worked until the studies of Albarran (1900), Motz and Pérearnau (1905).