title: The importance of prostatic measuring by transrectal ultrasound in surgical management of patients with clinically benign prostatic hyperplasia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study whether transrectal ultrasound volume determination of the whole prostate and of the transition zone alone correlates to resected or enucleated weight in patients operated upon with transurethral resection of the prostate and retropubic or suprapubic prostatectomy because of presumed benign prostatic hyperplasia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study comprised 120 patients with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia. Ninety patients underwent transurethral resection of the prostate and 30 treated using suprapubic or retropubic prostatectomy. The weights of the specimens were correlated with the corresponding volumes of the transition zone and of the whole prostate, respectively, measured by transrectal ultrasound using prolate ellipsoid method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean weight of the resected or enucleated specimens was 36.79 g. The mean whole prostate volume in all patients was 63.14 cm(3). Difference between resected weight and prostate volume was statistically significant (p= 0.0001), whereas the mean transition zone volume was 40.14 cm(3) and difference with resected weight was not significant (p=0.483). Correlation coefficients between measured total prostate volume and weight of resected tissue as well as between measured transition zone volume and weight of resected tissue were calculated and were respectively r=0.925, p< 0.001 and r=0.958, p<0.001.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Measurements of the transition zone of the prostate by transrectal ultrasound are more accurate than those for the whole prostate to predict enucleated or resected weight. The assessment of the transition zone volume may be sufficiently reliable to be used in the clinical management of benign prostatic hyperplasia and helpful to choose modality of the surgery.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D011467:Prostate / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D020728:Transurethral Resection of Prostate; D014463:Ultrasonography