Men with lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to BPH undergoing Aquablation with very large prostates (> 150 mL)

The AUA guidelines for benign prostatic hyperplasia distinguish treatments based upon prostate volume (PV), particularly for very large prostates (> 150 mL). While the clinical outcomes and benefits of Aquablation have been studied for men with average and large prostates, it is unknown whether this technology can be used for very large prostates.

Men with PV > 150 mL undergoing Aquablation were identified retrospectively from four North American hospitals. The surgical times and clinical outcomes of men with very large prostates (> 150 mL) were compared to data from men with average PV ≤ 80 mL (WATER study) and large PV 80 mL-150 mL (WATER II study).

The average PV of men who underwent Aquablation with very large prostates was 209 mL ± 56 (n = 34, range 151-362 mL), large PV 107 mL ± 20 (n = 101, range 80-150 mL) and average PV 54 mL ± 16 (n = 116, range 30-80 mL). For men with PV > 150 mL, baseline IPSS was 19 ± 6. With a mean follow up of 7 ± 9 months, the IPSS improved to 7 ± 5 (p < 0.001). Peak urinary flow rate, Qmax, improved from 7 ± 4 mL/s to 19 ± 5 mL/s (p<0.001). Compared to the two other PV groups, there were no differences in terms of improvements in IPSS, quality of life, or uroflowmetry. There were no reports of transfusions (0%) in the cohort of men with very large prostates.

In the present study, we demonstrate that Aquablation is effective and safe in prostates greater than 150 mL while showing consistent outcomes compared to average and large prostates sizes.