Introduction: Chronic urinary retention (CUR) is a major problem in elderly patients and leads to high levels of morbidity. CUR can be treated surgically with transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), but surgery is frequently avoided in elderly patients due to increased perioperative risks and the presence of detrusor underactivity, which can lead to surgical failure. We report on contemporary outcomes for catheterized elderly patients undergoing TURP from a high-volume university teaching hospital. Patients and Methods: Catheterized patients 80 years of age and older undergoing TURP for CUR at a university teaching hospital between 2012 and 2020 (9 years) were eligible. Those with neurogenic bladder, urethral stricture, or prior TURP were excluded. Surgical success was defined as being catheter free at 3- and 12-month follow-up. Statistical analysis was performed using the Chi-squared test for grouped data and logistic regression modeling for continuous data. Results: A total of 147 patients were included and underwent TURP. Of these, 118 (80.3%) were completely catheter free or using intermittent self-catheterization at initial 3-month follow-up. One hundred seventeen (79.6%) remained catheter free at 1-year follow-up. Postvoid residual >1500 mL before TURP (p = 0.017); age ≥90 (p = 0.0067); and World Health Organization performance status ≥3 (p < 0.00001) were all identified as independent risk factors for surgical failure. A selected subset of patients excluding these risk factors showed overall catheter-free rates of 88.8% at 3-month follow-up. Early and late complications were noted in 6.8% and 2.7% of patients. Conclusion: Our contemporary series demonstrate high rates of successful postoperative voiding for selected elderly patients after TURP, with catheter-free rates at 12 months of 88.8%. Overall complication rate was 9.5%, which may be justified given the alternative morbidity of long-term catheterization. TURP remains an efficacious and cost-effective treatment for selected elderly patients who are catheterized for CUR.
Keywords: benign prostatic hyperplasia; bladder outlet obstruction; catheter; prostate surgery; transurethral resection of the prostate.