ABSTRACT
Because bleeding is the chief cause of difficulty and danger in any form of prostatectomy, surgeons have been trying to discover how to limit blood loss for more than a century. In the UK National Prostatectomy Audit1 bleeding severe enough to require the operation to be stopped occurred in 20 of 4226 TURPs (0.7%) and in 20 (0.4%) packing of the prostate was required to stop the bleeding. In the postoperative period return to the operating theatre to control major bleeding was reported in 0.6% of cases.
