THE OXFORD LASER PROSTATE TRIAL - A DOUBLE-BLIND RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL OF CONTACT VAPORIZATION OF THE PROSTATE AGAINST TRANSURETHRAL RESECTION - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS

Objective To compare the results of contact laser vaporization and tra asurethral resection of the prostate (TURF) in a double-blind randomiz ed controlled clinical trial. Patients and methods The study comprised 148 patients with clinical benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) who wer e recruited and allocated randomly to undergo either TURF (72 patients ) or laser ablation of the prostate (76 patients), The outcome was ass essed using the American Urological Association (AUA - 7) symptom scor e after 1 and 3 months as the primary measure and by urinary flow rate s, haematological factors and the duration of hospital stay and length of catheterization. Results With 90% statistical power, the results a t 3 months showed no clinical or statistical difference between the tr eatments in change in AUA symptom score, A lower blood loss, hospital stay and duration of catheterization significantly favoured the laser treatment, although the failure rate of trial without catheter and the rate of re-operation were higher after laser treatment. Conclusions T hese early data are encouraging for this technique, although the outco me after one year requires evaluation before advocating the widespread uptake of this method.