Efficacy and safety of blue laser en bloc enucleation in the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer: report of 50 cases from a single center / 现代泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

【Objective】 To compare the efficacy and safety of blue laser en bloc enucleation and traditional plasmakinetic electrocautery in the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). 【Methods】 A total of 50 NMIBC patients treated in our hospital during Oct.2018 and Dec.2019 were enrolled. A randomized, incomplete blinding, parallel control design and non-inferior test method was adopted. The control group (electrocautery group) used plasmakinetic electrocautery for transurethral resection, and the experimental group (blue laser group) used semiconductor blue laser for transurethral en bloc enucleation. The effective resection rate, operation time, postoperative catheter indwelling time, length of hospital stay, perioperative hemoglobin changes and obturator nerve reflex were compared. 【Results】 There were 24 patients in the blue laser group and 26 in the electrocautery group. The effective dissection rate and hemostasis rate in both groups reached 100%. The blue laser group had slightly longer operation time than the electrocautery group (55 min vs.42 min, P=0.009), but lesser hemoglobin decrease (5.7 g/L vs. 10.4 g/L, P=0.007). There were no significant differences in urinary catheter indwelling time, length of hospital stay and reoperation rate between the two groups. The electrocautery group had 3 cases of obturator nerve reflex, while the blue laser group had none. 【Conclusion】 Compared with the traditional electrocautery, blue laser has good vaporization cutting and coagulation hemostatic effects on bladder tumor tissue, and can completely enucleate tumors in a front-firing model with less bleeding and no obturator nerve reflex, which can be used as a new, efficient, safe and easy-to-learn method for NMIBC surgery. However, its effects on postoperative recurrence rate and progression rate still need further studies.