title: Urethral lift for benign prostatic hyperplasia: a comprehensive review of the literature.
abstract: Current treatments for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) include watchful waiting, medical therapy, and interventional procedures. The post-surgical complication profile and the early discontinuation of medical therapy are significant drawbacks of the established approach and stimulate the search for less-invasive approaches. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive review all available literature on prostatic urethral lift (PUL), presenting an overview of safety, indications, surgical technique and results of the procedure, and to evaluate the potential role it could play in the treatment of BPH. A comprehensive search was conduct on PubMed and Scopus database to identify original articles in English dealing with PUL without any limit to publication date. Keywords used were prostatic urethral lift, urethral lifting, Urolift, benign prostatic hyperplasia and minimally invasive therapy. The PUL seems to offer a better IPSS improvement when compared to medical therapy, but the result is inferior when compared to surgical therapy. Published studies report an absence of degradation of erectile or ejaculatory function after treatment, which appears a noteworthy benefit of PUL. Additional advantages of the PUL are a better complication profile in comparison to other surgical therapies and the use of a local anesthesia, sometimes without postoperative catheterization. The PUL, a novel, minimally invasive treatment option for men affected by BPH, presents a promising potential although it is clear that PUL is not a substitute for traditional ablative surgical approach, as this procedure requires a scrupulous selection of the patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, San Raffaele Turro Hospital, Vita Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy, alelarcher@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Larcher
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Broglia
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lughezzani
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mistretta
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abrate
authors.forename: Giuliana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lista
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fossati
authors.forename: Mattia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sangalli
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kuefner
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cestari
authors.forename: Nicolomaria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Buffi
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lazzeri
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guazzoni
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Montorsi
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011467:Prostate / Q000601:surgery*; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D013536:Suture Techniques; D014521:Urethra / Q000601:surgery*