Transurethral prostatectomy in eight national hospitals in Japan, 1980-1987.

During the period 1980 to 1987, 2,694 transurethral and 325 open subcapsular prostatectomies were performed in the eight national hospitals of Japan. The frequency of the transurethral procedure has steadily increased, now accounting for over 95% of all prostatectomies. The likelihood of detecting cancer in patients presumed to have benign prostatic hypertrophy increased markedly with age, rising from 0.6% in patients aged 50 to 59 years to 21.4% in patients aged 90 or over.