This report identified a body of comparative and non-comparative studies indicating that TUNA is a relatively safe and promising technique that may eventually prove to have a role in selected patients with symptomatic BPH. Current evidence shows that the usefulness of TUNA in symptomatic BPH must balance its advantages in terms of morbidity, anesthetic requirements and hospital stay against the fact that it does not reach the same level of efficacy and longlasting success as TURP and the increased risk of secondary-treatment.
In addition, the review of the literature highlights the existence of a number of areas of uncertainty, chief among which, in our opinion, are: the precise mechanism of action of the technique and the factors implicated in the treatment's success; the lack of comparative studies with respect to medical treatment; the position of TUNA with respect to other minimally invasive therapies; and the cost-effectiveness ratio of the technique. Such data would be of critical importance if the real role of TUNA in the treatment of symptomatic BPH is to be defined with any degree of certainty.