Evaluating the cost of lasers for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Cost is an extremely complex equation with many variables, but itemized hospital bills are useful in analysis because they reflect costs as defined by an institution. Using this data source, we found that the total cost of an outpatient visual laser-assisted prostatectomy ($6,872.42) is almost the same as that of transurethral resection with a 3-day hospital stay ($6,925.00). Use of local anesthesia, improvement in the efficiency of tissue vaporization, and increases in fiber durability to permit multiple use would reduce laser prostatectomy costs. The true economic impact of laser prostatectomy awaits a long-term analysis that takes into account the costs of late complications and of reoperation.