Comparative safety analysis of surgical smoke from transurethral resection of the bladder tumors and transurethral resection of the prostate.

To analyze the gas generated from the transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) and transurethral resection of bladder (TURB) tumor. Thirty-six smoke samples were collected from a continuous irrigation suction system during the TURP and the TURB. Then, they were subdivided into 2 groups: the group I (n = 18; gases generated from the TURP) and the group II (n = 18; gases generated from the TURB). We performed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the samples on gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. A more diverse type of gas was generated from the TURB as compared with the TURP. A further quantitative analysis was performed for 7 of 16 gases and 13 of 39 gases in the group I and group II, respectively. This showed that there was no significant difference in the concentration of propylene (propylene: 148.36 ± 207.72 ug/g vs 96.956 ± 135.138 ug/g) and 1-pentene (5137.08 ± 2935.48 ug/g vs 4478.259 ± 5787.351 ug/g) between the TURP and the TURB (P >.05). Our results showed that 39 and 16 types of gases were generated from the TURB and the TURP, respectively. There were differences in the types of gases between benign hypertrophic prostate and malignant bladder tumor tissues. This indicates that electrosurgery of malignant tissue is possibly more hazardous to those who are involved in the surgical operation.