Recent advances in laser treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia

ABSTRACT

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the most common urological diseases in men after middle age. The most common surgical treatment of BPH is transurethral prostatectomy. Recently, because of the rapid development of lasers, they have been used for the treatment of BPH. The treatment of BPH using lasers has been shown to lead to significant improvements in symptoms and to have excellent therapeutic effects. It is widely used as a minimally invasive treatment of BPH because of the risk and complications associated with transurethral prostate resection. Currently, 3 kinds of lasers are generally used in the treatment of BPH in Korea potassium-titanyl-phosphate, holmium, and thulium lasers. With developments in laser technology, surgical procedures have improved continuously. The most common surgical procedures are holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP), photoselective vaporization of the prostate (PVP), and thulium laser enucleation of the prostate. HoLEP is an effective surgical procedure for large prostates. PVP is safe for patients who are elderly, are in poor general health, or are taking anticoagulants. Thulium laser enucleation of prostate has advantages over PVP and HoLEP surgery due to specific characteristics of the laser and the surgical method. Compared with transurethral prostate resection, laser-based surgical procedures require shorter hospitalization and Foley catheter insertion periods. HoLEP and PVP are safe and effective methods for the surgical treatment of BPH. Therefore, if more data are accumulated from research into these methods, they will become the standard surgical treatments for prostate hyperplasia.