The Effect of Short Term Dutasteride Therapy on Microvessel Density in Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Abstract

Purpose: Several studies have shown that finasteride limits hematuria in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). However, there are few reports addressing dutasteride therapy. We evaluated the effect of dutasteride on intraoperative blood loss and on microvessel density (MVD) in patients with BPH. Materials and Methods: We studied 39 patients with BPH who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). Group I included 22 patients who received dutasteride 0.5mg daily for 2 weeks preoperatively, and group II included 17 patients who did not. Blood loss was evaluated by comparing preoperative and postoperative hemoglobin. Sections from the prostatic suburothelium and hyperplastic prostate were individually stained for CD 34. MVD was calculated by counting the number of positively stained blood vessels in 5 random high power fields. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of age, total prostatic volume, resected prostatic weight, or prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Results: The mean MVD in the suburethral portion in dutasteride-treated patients was significantly lower than that seen in untreated patients (14.47 versus 22.19 vessels per high power field, p=0.026). In nodular hyperplasia, there was no significant difference in MVD between the two group (14.72 versus 15.24 vessels per high power field, p=0.801). Conclusions: Short term pretreatment with dutasteride decreases suburethral prostatic MVD in patients with BPH and may help reduce blood loss during TURP, particularly in huge BPH, which sometimes bleeds excessively during operation. (Korean J Urol 2008;49:515-519) 󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏