Current Laser Therapies for the Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

The gold standard for symptomatic relief of bladder outlet obstruction secondary to be-nign prostatic hyperplasia has traditionally been a transurethral resection of the pros-tate (TURP). Over the past decade, however, novel laser technologies that are patient friendly as compared to the con-ventional TURP have been developed. As part of the ongoing quest to minimize complica-tions, shorten hospitalization, improve resection time, and most importantly reduce mortality, laser prostatectomy has continually evolved. Today, there are more varia-tions of laser prostatectomy, each with several differing surgical techniques. Although abundant data are available confirming the safety and feasibility of the various laser systems, future randomized-controlled trials will be necessary to verify which techni-que is superior. In this article, we describe the most common modalities used to perform a laser prostatectomy, mainly, the holmium laser and the potassium-titanyl-phosphate lasers. We also highlight the physical and clinical characteristics of each technology with a review of their efficacy.