title: Prostatic aperture resulting from visual laser ablation: classification system based on follow-up endoscopy.
abstract: To study the evolving prostatic aperture created by visual laser ablation (VLAP), we performed 38 video-endoscopies in 24 men with prostatism at various intervals 2 weeks to 1 year after treatment. Complete healing was generally observed within 3 to 4 months, never before 6 weeks; and in some patients, tissue sloughing was still apparent beyond 6 months. By review of the cystoscopic findings and video hard copies, three independent observers classified the healed prostatic apertures with great uniformity into one of four categories: (I) minimal change (lateral lobes still meet in midline throughout gland length) (N = 3); (II) minor aperture (opening less than 50% of cystoscopic field over less than 50% of gland length) (N = 5); (III) major aperture (opening more than 50% of cystoscopic field over more than 50% of gland length) (N = 11); and (IV) full ablation (nearly complete replacement of lobar configuration with a general concavity) (N = 5). Clinical outcomes (symptom scores, uroflow rates) matched with follow-up cystoscopic categories but not with any other readily identifiable measures. The four-category system proved to be simple, reproducible, and clinically relevant. If a standardized tissue aperture is the ultimate aim of new methods to ablate the prostate, the proposed system for classifying the aperture could have a considerable future application.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery/Urology, UCLA School of Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Marks
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Treiger
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Dorey
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Shery
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004724:Endoscopy; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014741:Video Recording; D014945:Wound Healing