Natural history of pyuria and microhematuria after prostate surgery

Objective: Urinalysis alterations are common after prostatic surgery. However, time to normalization has not been established. Presence of pyuria and microhematuria can lead to unnecessary diagnostic procedures. The objective of this study is to determine the time to normalization for both parameters.

Material and methods: We reviewed medical records of patients who underwent prostatic surgery without infectious complications during follow-up. We included patients who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) with either monopolar or bipolar energy, or open prostatectomy (OP). Kaplan-Meier curves were used to determine the time of persistence of both parameters. ANOVA was used to compare the 3 groups according to the type of surgery. We analyzed the impact of preoperative use of 5-α-reductase inhibitors, and searched for a correlation between the weight of resected tissue and persistence of both parameters.

Results: 85 patients were analyzed: 44 underwent monopolar TURP, 27 bipolar TURP, and 14 OP. Persistence of pyuria was significantly longer than microhematuria with a median of 274 days vs. 176 days. Neither the use of monopolar or bipolar energy, nor the use of preoperative 5α-reductase inhibitors affected the persistence time. We found a positive correlation between the resected tissue weight and the persistence of leukocyturia after endoscopic surgery: 23 g was the best cut-off point.

Conclusions: Pyuria persists longer than microhematuria regardless of the type of surgery. There is a correlation between the resected tissue weight and the persistence of pyuria. The presence of pyuria and microhematuria after prostatic surgery is not always a pathological finding.