Transurethral prostatectomy: mortality and morbidity.

In 1989 two large-scale multicenter studies on the mortality and morbidity of transurethral resection of the prostate were published [Mebust et al.: J Urol 141:243-247, 1989; Roos et al.: N Engl J Med 320:1120-1124, 1989]. These studies caused us to perform a retrospective study on a total of 1,211 consecutive patients who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate at our department between January 1988 and July 1991. The mortality rate in the 1,211 patients subjected to transurethral resection of the prostate was 0.00%; none of the patients died of intraoperative or postoperative complications. Intraoperative complications were observed in 8.9% of the patients, while the rate of early postoperative complications was 15.8%. Of the 1,211 patients operated on, 775 were followed for at least 1 year postoperatively. Late complications were noted in 11.2% of the patients. Repeat resection had to be performed in 0.9% of patients within 1 year, and in 2.5% within 3 years after surgery. A comparison of the studies by Mebust et al. and Roos et al. yielded similar rates of intraoperative and postoperative complications, whereas our mortality rate and repeat transurethral resection rate were significantly lower.