ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to find if any clinical or laboratory factors have significant correlations with blood loss caused by a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of 218 patients who had undergone a TURP were retrospectively reviewed. For each patient, the preoperative factors evaluated included age, type of presentation (patients who had been treated due to acute urinary retention; retention group, patients who had been treated due to lower urinary tract symptoms; symptomatic group), blood pressure, complete blood count, coagulation screening, prostate size on transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS), urine analysis, urine culture, ECG and drugs. Intraoperative and postoperative factors were also evaluated, including type of anesthesia, operator, operating time, weight of resected prostate tissue, blood transfusion and prostate histology. These factors were analyzed with respect to blood loss during the TURP using student's t, ANOVA and chi-square tests. RESULTS: The mean intraoperative blood loss and resected prostate weight were 415 ml and 15g, respectively. The factors which were found to significantly correlate with blood loss during a TURP were: resected prostate weight (r=0.44, p=0.0001), prostate size on TRUS (r=0.32, p=0.001), operating time (r=0.31, p=0.001), preoperative urine culture (p= 0.020), preoperative antimicrobials taken (p=0.020), and prostate histology (p=0.048). CONCLUSIONS: Of the factors found to correlate with blood loss during the TURP, the only reversible factor was a preoperative urinary tract infection. So, we expect that the prevention of preoperative urinary tract infection and its effective treatment in patients might be helpful in decreasing blood loss during a TURP.