Urethral stricture after bipolar transurethral resection of prostate - truth vs hype: A randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: Bipolar transurethral resection of prostate (B-TURP) was introduced as an alternative procedure to minimize the surgical complications of monopolar TURP (M-TURP). However, there are concerns about increased incidence of stricture urethra (SU) post B-TURP. This study was designed to analyze the incidence of SU among patients undergoing M-TURP versus B-TURP.

Materials and Methods: This is a randomized controlled, single-blinded study; randomization was performed using a stratified permuted randomization algorithm (1:1 ratio) and only the patients were blinded. Both M-TURP and B-TURP were performed with a 26 Fr resectoscope; the electrosurgical generators were Karl Storz Autocon II 400 and Olympus UES-40 SurgMaster (TUR in saline [TURIS] method), respectively. Follow-up visits were scheduled at 3, 6, and 12 months post surgery and patients with lower urinary tract symptoms and a maximum urinary flow rate of <10 ml/sec on uroflowmetry underwent retrograde urethrography to assess for development of SU.

Results: Forty patients were randomised to each arm. None developed SU in the monopolar group, whereas there were three cases in the bipolar group ( P = 0.2). Among these three patients, two belonged to the failed medical management subgroup and one to the refractory urinary retention subgroup ( P = 1.0).

Conclusion: The incidence of SU following B-TURP using the TURIS system was comparable to the conventional M-TURP. Moreover, the incidence of SU was same for both the techniques when sub-grouped according to the indication for surgery that is failed medical management versus refractory urinary retention.