A retrospective, population-based study was conducted in Lyon, France, to elucidate the benefits and risks of a treatment for prostatic adenoma (benign prostatic hyperplasia). Case records were reviewed for all prostatectomies performed on patients in Lyon in 1988 for benign prostatic hyperplasia. Data were obtained from all records of public and private hospitals. Of 408 procedures, 312 involved endourethral resection (transurethral resection) and 96 open surgery. The mean weight of resected tissue was 20.3 +/- 0.9 g after endourethral resection and 71.7 +/- 6.4 g after open surgery. About 20% of the resections took place in a university hospital center, 43% in a not-for-profit private hospital, and 37% in a private clinic; there were eight deaths in the first 3 postoperative months, and 11 patients required hospitalization for urologic complications. Length of hospital stay uniquely correlated with age and type of surgery.