[Long-term results after prostate vaporisation : GreenLight™ laser vaporisation of the prostate and electrovaporisation].

BACKGROUND: Various minimally invasive techniques are available for the surgical treatment of benign prostatic obstruction. Besides resection and enucleation, vaporization of the prostate is an attractive alternative.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present article is to provide a comprehensive literature review on long-term results of GreenLight™ laser vaporisation and electrovaporisation of the prostate.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature search on long-term (≥5 years) results of GreenLight™ laser vaporization of the prostate and electrovaporisation of the prostate.

RESULTS: Laser vaporization of the prostate with the GreenLight™ laser leads to an immediate and long-lasting improvement of voiding symptoms beyond 5 years. Currently, no long-term data of the 180 W laser model are available. With the former 80 W laser, an increased rate of reoperation due to recurrent obstruction has been described. As reoperation mainly occurs within the first 2 postoperative years, this suggests insufficient tissue ablation. Electrovaporisation of the prostate also leads to an improvement of voiding symptoms. However, only few studies on long-term results are available which report a relatively high rate of treatment failure. In addition, these studies have limitations in study design.

CONCLUSIONS: Laser vaporisation of the prostate with the GreenLight™ laser seems to be an effective minimally invasive treatment alternative for BPO. However, long-term results of the current 180 W laser are still awaited. Based on limited data, electrovaporisation of the prostate currently cannot be recommended as an established treatment alternative.