Safety and Efficacy of En Bloc Transurethral Resection With 1.9 µm Vela Laser for Treatment of Non-Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of 1.9 µm Vela laser in treatment of primary non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

METHODS: The data of the patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer treated by either en bloc transurethral resection with 1.9 µm Vela laser (n = 26) or conventional transurethral resection of bladder tumor (n = 44) were analyzed retrospectively. The preoperative characteristics and intraoperative complications were compared in the 2 groups.

RESULTS: Patients who were treated by 1.9 µm Vela laser obtained a higher rate of specimens meeting the requirements of pathologic assessment for tumor staging compared with the patients treated by conventional transurethral resection of bladder tumor. No obturator nerve reflex and bladder perforation occurred during surgery in the 1.9 µm Vela laser group. However, 7 patients in the conventional transurethral resection of bladder tumor group encountered obturator nerve reflex, and 3 of them encountered bladder perforation (P <.05). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in operative duration and transfusion rate. Patients in the 1.9 µm Vela laser group had shorter postoperative continuous bladder irrigation time than that in the conventional transurethral resection of bladder tumor group. There was no significant difference in the overall recurrence rate between the 2 groups during the follow-up periods.

CONCLUSION: En bloc transurethral resection with 1.9 µm Vela laser in the treatment of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer demonstrates an advantage over conventional transurethral resection of bladder tumor in reducing intraoperative complications, improving the quality of the specimens admitted for pathologic assessment, and shortening the duration of postoperative continuous bladder irrigation.