Background: Theoretical considerations have raised the suspicion that transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) may increase the risk of developing prostate cancer in clinically benign prostate glands. Previous studies have not shown an increased risk among men who had undergone TURP for benign prostatic hyperplasia compared with the risk in age-matched control subjects. However, in all of these studies, all men with stage T1 prostate cancer in the TURP-group were excluded, possibly creating a bias, because no similar exclusion could be made for the controls.
Methods: The incidence and mortality of clinical prostate cancer were studied in 198 patients who had TURP and in 203 age-matched male control subjects. In both groups, all patients with known prostate cancer and patients with suspected cancer by digital rectal examination were excluded from the study. However, patients with stage T1 cancer found by the TURP were included in the comparison between the groups.
Results: The mean age in the two groups was 67 +/- 6 years. The patients were followed for an average of 10.2 +/- 1.2 years and 10.4 +/- 1.8 years in the TURP group and the control group, respectively. Clinical prostate cancer developed in six patients who had TURP and subsequently in five control (odds ratio, 0.8 [0.2-3.1]; P < 0.97). Before follow-up, three men in each group died because of prostate cancer (odds ratio, 1.3 (0.24-7.45); P < 0.97).
Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that neither benign prostatic hyperplasia nor TURP increased the risk of developing clinical prostate cancer over the next 10 years in patients with a benign prostate gland determined by rectal examination before TURP.