Standardization of 532 nm Laser Terminology for Surgery in Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH): A Systematic Review.

INTRODUCTION: The use of GreenLight™ laser technology to remove the prostatic transitional zone (TZ) transurethrally has grown considerably in recent years, and with it an increase in the number of terms that are used to describe similar techniques. Varying terminology complicates literature analysis and publication, which can cause confusion when performing reviews of the literature. It has become necessary to simplify and standardize terminology used to describe transurethral prostate debulking procedures using the 532 nm laser in order to simplify communication on these techniques.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a search on September 17th, 2019 in the following databases: Ovid MEDLINE®; Ovid EMBASE; and PubMed.

RESULTS: Of the 1115 unique records found in our database search, a total of 27 articles were selected for inclusion. Of the 16 search terms used, we found that 4 terms could be used to describe the fundamental technique associated with each search term. These terms include "vaporization", "vaporesection", "vapoenucleation", and "enucleation".

CONCLUSIONS: Standardizing terminology leads to an efficient consolidation of terms based on the above outcomes. This will streamline the literature search process for future publications and facilitate comparison of varying techniques.