Presented by: David Nusbaum
University of Chicago Medical Center

Introduction

A previous randomized trial showed worse measures of bladder function in men who delayed surgical intervention for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Aquablation is a technique that utilizes water jet ablation for treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) secondary to BPH. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of patient age on measures of improvement after Aquablation.

Materials

A prospective dataset of men who underwent Aquablation at a single institution between March 2019 and May 2023 was analyzed. Baseline characteristics including prostate size, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), and post-void residual (PVR) were compared between men age ≤65, 66-79, and ≥80. Correlation coefficients were calculated to measure the relationship between age and change in IPSS and PVR after surgery.

Results

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Data were available for 267 patients, of whom 24 (9.0%) were age 80 or older. There were no significant differences in median prostate size or PVR between different age groups at baseline. Older patients had a lower median pre-operative IPSS compared to younger patients; however median IPSS was >18 for all age categories, indicating significant LUTS in this cohort. There was a positive correlation between patient age and change in IPSS after surgery (Pearson’s correlation coefficient = 0.22, p = 0.002; Figure 1). There was not a significant correlation between age and change in PVR.

Conclusion

After Aquablation, younger patients tended to have greater improvement in IPSS scores compared to older patients, indicating that intervention at a younger age may be beneficial for patients. Across age categories, most men experienced improvement in urinary symptoms after surgery. Future validation in larger cohorts is required.

Funding

None

Co-Authors

James Kearns,
NorthShore University HealthSystem

Alexander Glaser,
NorthShore University HealthSystem

Brian Helfand,
NorthShore University HealthSystem