You will be advised at what time to come to hospital and where to present to. This is different at each of the hospitals. Please read your TURP Procedure Summary Sheet which is with your paperwork as this will explain exactly where to go. Generally you will be checked in at the Day Surgery Unit. Here the nursing staff will check all of your details and medical history and take your blood pressure, pulse and temperature and help you change into a theatre gown.

You will be taken into theatres on a theatre bed and you will see the anesthetist who will take a medical history from you and discuss whether you will have a spinal or general anaesthetic. A spinal anaesthetic consists of having a needle in the back to inject local anaesthetic around the spinal cord which causes numbness from the waist down. With a general anaesthetic you are put to sleep for the duration of the operation.

What does a TURP involve?

Once you are asleep, Dr Swindle will start the operation by inserting a fine telescope down the penis into the urethra. The urethra is the tube that drains urine from the bladder to the penis. This instrument allows Dr Swindle to examine the urethra, prostate and bladder. After the prostate has been inspected an instrument called a resectoscope is then used to cut away the enlarged prostate tissue. The tissue is cut by a wire loop at the end of the resectoscope that has an electrical current running through it. The wire loop both cuts the prostate tissue and seals blood vessels.

At the end of the operation a urinary catheter, which is a soft plastic tube, is placed inside the urethra to drain the urine from the bladder. The catheter is then connected to bags of fluid (saline or salty water) that wash out any blood that may accumulate in the bladder. It is normal for your urine to appear red or blood stained. This should not cause alarm and the irrigation into your bladder will continue until your urine is a clear color.

The procedure usually takes about 1 hour and at the end of the procedure you will be transferred to the recovery ward, where nurses keep a close eye on you for about an hour or so before transferring you back to the ward.

The following pictures demonstrate the view of the prostate looking down the resectoscope:

 

As the surgeon looks down the resectoscope this is the view that is seen of the prostate. It shows the enlarged prostate bulging into the urethra and blocking the urethra

 

 This shows the resectoscope inside the prostate gland and the wire loop cutting away the enlarged prostate tissue and opening up the urethra.

 

As the wire loop cuts away the enlarged prostate tissue the urethra opens up thus making a larger hole for the urine to pass through.

 

The tissue that is removed from your prostate will be sent to the pathologist for assessment to ensure there is no prostate cancer present. If you have a spinal anaesthetic you will be awake but drowsy and it is important that you remain still whilst Dr Swindle is operating. You will not feel any pain during the operation. There will be a feeling of numbness or heaviness in your legs for several hours after the operation and this is quite normal.