Ejaculation Sparing Bladder Neck Incision with Holmium Laser in Patients with Urinary Symptoms and Small Prostates: Short-Term Functional Results

BACKGROUND: The treatment options for male lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) widely range from self-monitoring to oral medications to surgical procedures. As far as concerns surgical treatment of obstructive LUTS, transurethral incision of the prostate is considered as the gold standard in patients with mild benign prostatic enlargement. OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study is to describe this novel approach to perform ejaculation sparing Holmium laser bladder neck incision (ES-HoBNI), with particular regard to its effect on ejaculation and LUTS relief. METHODS: We evaluated prospective clinical data from 143 consecutive patients who underwent ES-HoBNI at our institution from January 2012 to February 2018. Procedures were performed with a continuous flow 26 Ch resectoscope and a 550 µm holmium laser end-fire fiber. The stenotic bladder neck was deeply incised at 3 and 9'o clock down to the prostatic capsule in a retrograde direction to either side in front of the veromontanum. RESULTS: Median Qmax, postvoid residual volume, International Prostate Symptom Score, and quality of life were 9 mL/s (7.4-10.2), 130 mL (100-190), 15 (13-19), and 3 (2-4), respectively. In total, 110 (76.9) reported regular anterograde ejaculation. Median operative time was 20 min (15-26). Median catheterization time and hospital stay were 3 days (3-4) and 22 h (20-24), respectively. Moreover, we have compared the frequency of anterograde ejaculation, which slightly increases after ES-HoBNI (77 vs. 81.2%) when compared to baseline data, despite not reaching statistical significancy. CONCLUSIONS: ES-HoBNI is a safe, reproducible technique to relieve obstructive LUTS in men with small prostates while preserving ejaculation in younger and sexually active individuals.