Transurethral needle ablation (TUNA) of the prostate: a clinical and urodynamic evaluation

Objectives. This prospective study evaluated the clinical and urodynamic changes in patients with obstruction due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) treated with transurethral needle ablation (TUNA) Methods. One hundred twenty patients with obstructive uropathy due to BPH were treated with the TUNA procedure between January 1994 and December 1995. All patients were selected according to the criteria established by the guidelines proposed by the International Consensus Committee (World Health Organization, Paris, 1993). The TUNA procedure was performed in an outpatient setting using topical intraurethral anesthesia (2% lidocaine gel). Results. Patients showed a decrease in irritative symptoms as measured by the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and postprocedure urodynamic parameters. The mean (± SD) pretreatment IPSS was 20.8 ± 4.5. At 3 months, the IPSS decreased to 9.7 ± 3.0 (108 patients) ( P