Holmium laser for benign prostatic hyperplasia.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The following review provides an overview of the current status, while focusing on the surgical techniques associated with the holmium laser for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

RECENT FINDINGS

A systematic Medline database search, with a focus on articles about surgical treatment with holmium laser for benign prostatic hyperplasia, provided some new data concerning holmium laser enucleation of the prostate. On the other hand, new interesting data concerning both resection and ablation techniques using the holmium laser have only been sparsely reported during this review period.

SUMMARY

Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate is a safe procedure for treating not only patients without co-morbidities but also patients with urinary retention or who are on anticoagulants. Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate can be performed on prostates of all sizes with significantly less morbidity. Although holmium laser enucleation of the prostate represents a state-of-the-art procedure, a prolonged learning curve has still prevented the widespread adoption of this device in the urological community.