3. Original Article
symptoms, known as the transurethral resection syndrome. Few cases of fever or hypothermia were reported in our
The prevalence of the syndrome varies in different studies, study. According to Hahn et al,2 postoperative fever was
which might be related to factors including the type of chem- common in those who absorbed irrigating fluid (21%) com-
ical fluid used for irrigation (eg, sterile water, mannitol, gly- pared with only 3% of the nonabsorbing patients. They sug-
cine, etc), the osmotic characteristic of the irrigating fluid gested that fluid absorption promotes bacteremia after TURP.
(hypo-, normo-, or hyperosmolar fluids), the patient’s condi- The nature of the prostatic hypertrophy, elective surgery, and
tion, and the amount of fluid absorbed.2,3,7,8 According to hygienic methods of surgery may reduce the abovementioned
Hagstrom3, the susceptibility of patients to develop these events.
symptoms varies according to their age and physical condi-
tions.
Some investigators have shown that the fluid’s temper- Conclusion
ature interacts with the complications.1 The fluid bags with TURP with sterile water is safe and inexpensive. Signif-
the room temperature of 37°C, which were traditionally used icant hyponatremia and fluid absorption did not occur, and
in our center, prevent some cardiovascular changes and hypo- there was no mortality.
or hyperthermia.
Some authors suggested that hypertension is caused by Acknowledgments
the fluid overload in the clinical syndrome during and after We thank all patients who let us use their information.
TURP, though it maybe followed by dilutional hyponatremic Also, we thank all urologists, anesthesiologists, and their res-
shock.1 The results of Hahn et al’s2 research showed that idents for helping us. We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Patricia
hypertension occurred in approximately 20% of the patients Khashayar for reviewing this manuscript and providing help-
who underwent TURP regardless of the amount of the ab- ful comments.
sorbed fluid. On the contrary, hypotension was strongly as-
sociated with the increase of absorption during and after the
procedure. The cause of hypotension is not as clear as the
References
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Southern Medical Journal • Volume 101, Number 4, April 2008 3