Transurethral laser ablation using 980-nm diode laser for recurrent non-muscle invasive bladder cancer

Aim: Transurethral laser ablation (TULA) for recurrent bladder cancer is a less invasive treatment method for patients. We report here our initial clinical experience with TULA for recurrent bladder cancer. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed 48 patients. Twenty-four cases were treated with TULA and another 24 cases were treated with transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) from Feb 2024 to Mar 2025 at Kochi Medical School Hospital. Intraoperative and postoperative outcomes and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were analyzed between TULA and TURBT. Results: This study showed that TULA using a 980-nm diode laser was significantly shorter than TURBT in terms of perioperative results: operative time, hospital stay, catheterization, bladder irrigation, and postoperative hospital stay. Regarding the occurrence of complications, TULA was observed to be less prevalent than TURBT in all cases. Kaplan-Meier curves showed that TULA was significantly associated with longer RFS compared to TURBT (hazard ratio 4.739; 95% confidence interval, 1.272–17.65; p = 0.02039). Conclusions: Our preliminary results showed that TULA for recurrent bladder cancer is feasible and safe.