Radical prostatectomy: size of the prostate gland and its relationship with acute perioperative complications.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if there is correlation between the size of radical prostatectomy specimens and perioperative complications including intraoperative blood loss.


METHODS
One hundred twenty consecutive retropubic radical prostatectomy cases were retrospectively reviewed. Perioperative complications, intraoperative blood loss, pathologic stage, and size of the prostatectomy specimen were recorded. Logistic regression was used to determine whether variables such as age, PSA, and prostate weight are significant predictors of perioperative complications and intraoperative blood loss.


RESULTS
The final analysis included a total of 117 cases. Significant complications were seen in 10 patients (8.5%). The median weight of the prostatectomy specimen in the group with major complications was 44.5 g (range 24-219) which was significantly higher than the median weight of 39.9 g (range 13-124) for the group without any complications (p = 0.034). The size of the prostate gland predicted the likelihood of a perioperative complication better than chance. A prostate size greater than 37 g was 10 times more likely to encounter major complications. Our analysis also indicated a statistically significant positive correlation between the weight of the prostatectomy specimen and intraoperative blood loss (p = 0.046).


CONCLUSIONS
Prostate size correlates with a higher risk of major perioperative complications and higher intraoperative blood loss.
Meraj
Shafquat
S
Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
Nagler
Harris M
HM
Homel
Peter
P
Shasha
Daniel
D
Wagner
Joseph R
JR
D000368:Aged; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011468:Prostatectomy / Q000379:methods*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome