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Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate in Jehovah’s Witness patients

Purpose

To evaluate if HoLEP is a viable option for male patients with medication-refractory urinary symptoms due to an enlarged prostate who are surgical candidates, but do not accept blood product transfusion.

Materials and methods

Between August 2008 and March 2019, nine Jehovah’s Witness patients were undergoing HoLEP for relief of lower urinary tract symptoms and urinary retention. We described change in hemoglobin, change in PSA, enucleated prostate weight, enucleation and morcellation times, length of stay, and postoperative retention rate.

Results

The average age was 71.4 years (range 53–87). Urinary retention requiring catheterization was present in seven patients (78%). Two patients had a known diagnosis of prostate cancer preoperatively. The mean preoperative PSA on average was 21.6 ng/dL. Patients had a wide range of gland sizes, with a mean enucleated weight of 141 g (range 18–344 g). Mean reduction in hemoglobin was 16.9% following HoLEP. All patients managed to void postoperatively. All but one patient went home on postoperative day 1, and this patient went home on postoperative day 2. No patients required blood product transfusion or return to the operating room for clot irrigation postoperatively.

Conclusion

HoLEP is a reasonable option for Jehovah’s Witness and other patients with contraindications to blood product transfusion requiring surgical management of urinary symptoms due to enlarged prostate.