Comparison of Thulium Laser Resection of Bladder Tumors and Conventional Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumors for Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer.

The thulium laser resection of bladder tumors (TmLRBT) was increasingly used in the treatment of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) recently, and here we report the relevant outcomes of our institution to evaluate its efficacy and safety.

We retrospectively collected the data of NMIBC patients who underwent either TmLRBT or transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT). The baseline characteristics and perioperative outcomes were compared in these 2 groups.

The TmLRBT had a higher rate of detrusor identification than TURBT (97.4 vs. 87.6%, p = 0.001). After screening, 134 patients who underwent TmLRBT and 152 patients who received TURBT were enrolled in the analysis, and their baseline characteristics were similar. During the TURBT, 24 (15.8%) obturator nerve reflexes and 9 (5.9%) bladder perforations occurred, while none happened during the TmLRBT. After surgery, TmLRBT patients had fewer postoperative gross hematuria (38.1 vs. 96.7%, p < 0.001) and postoperative irrigation (27.6 vs. 92.7%, p < 0.001), and its irrigation duration was significantly shorter (2.3 vs. 3.3 day, p < 0.001). During the follow-up, no significant difference in the recurrence rate was detected (p = 0.315).

TmLRBT is a safer technique than conventional TURBT in the treatment of NMIBC, and it could offer better specimens for pathologic assessment while the cancer control was not compromised.

Urologia internationalis. 2021 Mar 30 [Epub ahead of print]

Zheng Liu, Yucong Zhang, Guoliang Sun, Wei Ouyang, Shen Wang, Hao Xu, Henglong Hu, Fan Li, Jun Yang, Zhihua Wang, Wei Guan, Xiao Yu, Zhiquan Hu, Zhong Chen, Shaogang Wang, Gongwei Long, Heng Li

Department of Urology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China., Department of Geriatrics, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.