photoselective vaporization of the prostate (PVP)

Indications

• benign prostatic hypertrophy with moderate to severe symptoms not responsive to medical therapy with:
  • 5-alpha reductase inhibitor (finasteride), OR
  • alpha-adrenergic antagonist (tamsulosin, terazosin)

Advantages

• most patients go home the same day, the remainder are discharged the following morning
• significantly less bleeding than TURP
• indwelling cateters can be remove the same or following day in virtually all patients
• lower risk of incontinence than TURP

Procedure

Interior of the prostate is vaporized using Laserscope's greenlight laser.

• outpatient procedure under local anesthesia
• procedure takes 20-50 minutes
• high-powered laser is introduced through a fiber to vaporize prostate tissue
• urethral obstruction is cleared with minimal blood loss

Complications

• retrograde ejaculation (not associated with impotence)

More general terms

• prostatectomy

Additional terms

• benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)