Epinephrine Used Effectively to Treat TURP Blood Loss

In the recent issue of International Urology and Nephrology, a group from Mexico used intraoperative intraprostatic injection of epinephrine during transurethral resection of the prostate to reduce blood loss.  In other surgical specialties, epinephrine has been used to reduce immediate blood loss with reasonable success.  The results of this study showed an average blood loss in the non-epinephrine group that is about 2.5 times higher than the group that received the injection.  This method would prove useful in health care settings where less invasive alternatives to TURP such as the plasma button vaporization of the prostate(see video below) are not available or in patients with coagulation disorders where peri-operative concern for bleeding is high.