Experience with more than 1,000 holmium laser prostate enucleations for benign prostatic hyperplasia

Purpose: Holmium laser prostate enucleation is a contemporary treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia. We report our experience with more than 1,000 procedures.

Materials and methods: From June 1998 to March 2009 we performed 1,065 holmium laser prostate enucleations. After receiving institutional review board approval we retrospectively reviewed the database. Reported short-term, intermediate term and long-term results are 0 to 6, 6 to 12 and greater than 12 months, respectively.

Results: Bladder stones were present in 50 patients (4.7%) and 87 of the 717 (12.1%) with laboratory studies available had renal insufficiency. Preoperative urinary retention was present in 411 cases (38.7%). Significant preoperative stress and urge incontinence was noted in 8 and 16 patients, respectively. Mean transrectal ultrasound prostate volume was 99.3 gm (range 9 to 391). Mean preoperative American Urological Association symptom score was 20.3 (range 1 to 35) and maximum urinary flow was 8.4 cc per second (range 1.1 to 39.3). Intraoperative or postoperative complications occurred in 24 cases (2.3%). Mean followup was 287 days (range 6 to 3,571). At short-term, intermediate term and long-term followup the mean symptom score was 8.7, 5.9 and 5.3, and maximum urinary flow was 17.9, 19.5 and 22.7 cc per second, respectively. At the most recent followup 3 patients (0.3%) were in urinary retention. One patient with maximum urinary flow 20 cc per second required a second procedure for bleeding prostatic regrowth. Urethral stricture was noted in 9 (0.9%), 11 (1.3%), 4 (1.3%) and 0 patients, and bladder neck contracture was found in 0, 7 (0.8%), 4 (1.3%) and 5 (6.0%) at short-term, intermediate term, long-term and greater than 5-year followup, respectively. At the most recent followup significant stress and urge incontinence was noted in 9 and 6 patients, respectively.

Conclusions: Holmium laser prostate enucleation is safe and effective for benign prostatic hyperplasia. The complication rate is low, and incontinence and the need for ancillary procedures are rare for holmium laser prostate enucleation with durable long-term results.