Preoperative membranous urethral length predicts quality-of-life recovery and urinary incontinence after holmium enucleation of the prostate

Purpose Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) relieves bladder outlet obstruction, but postoperative quality-of-life (QOL) recovery and stress urinary incontinence (SUI) differ among patients. We evaluated whether preoperative membranous urethral length (MUL) on MRI predicts QOL recovery and SUI after HoLEP, independent of clinical and surgical factors.
Methods This single-center retrospective study included 135 patients with preoperative MRI. MUL was measured on sagittal T2-weighted images. The primary outcome was 6-month International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) -QOL ≤ 1. SUI was defined as the use of ≥1 pad per day at 6 months. IPSS-QOL changes were analyzed with generalized estimating equations. For 6-month QOL recovery and SUI, logistic regression was adjusted for age, enucleated weight, prostate volume, baseline QOL, and surgeon. We evaluated thickness of posterior wall of membranous urethral sphincter (TPWMUS), membranous urethral volume (MUV), and a short-MUL/thin-TPWMUS phenotype.
Results The 6-month IPSS-QOL ≤ 1 rate was 40.0%; SUI occurred in 19/135 patients (14.1%). Longer MUL was linked to better QOL recovery at every time point (p ≤ 0.015) and independently predicted both 6-month QOL recovery (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.35, 95% CI 1.14–1.61) and lower SUI risk (odds ratio [OR] 0.76, 0.61–0.93), remaining significant after adjustment. Adding MUL improved prediction (AUC for SUI 0.588→0.704; for QOL 0.716→0.760). Across MUL tertiles, QOL recovery rose from 13.9% to 56.1% ,and SUI fell from 20.0% to 2.2%. Short MUL/thin-TPWMUS showed higher SUI and poorer QOL recovery.
Conclusions Preoperative MUL on MRI independently predicted QOL recovery and continence after HoLEP.