NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Transurethral thermal therapy for benign prostatic hypertrophy delivered by a new-generation, cooled, high-energy microwave catheter is effective and safe, with a high rate of patient satisfaction after 5 years, a multicenter team reports.
Dr. Lance A. Mynderse, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues used the Cooled ThermoCath catheter with the Targis cooled high energy transurethral microwave thermal therapy system to treat 66 men with BPH. The participants returned at scheduled intervals for 5 years to assess symptom scores, uroflowmetry, quality of life, adverse events, treatment satisfaction and need for re-treatment.
As reported in the May issue of the Journal of Urology, patients were taught self-catheterization after treatment. Half of them required no posttreatment catheterization of any kind, while the others needed intermittent or in-dwelling catheterization.
Prostate volume decreased by a mean of 19% at 6 months, the investigators found.
At each follow-up visit, there were significant improvements from baseline in symptom scores, QOL, and maximum flow rate, and at 5 years the changes in these measures were -43%, -40%, and +39%, according to the report.
No serious adverse events occurred related to treatment, the authors note. Among the 66 patients, 19 (29%) underwent further BPH treatment with medication or a secondary procedure during follow-up.
At the 5-year visit, 40 of 51 patients remaining in the study reported satisfaction with BPH treatment, while two reported dissatisfaction.
Dr. Mynderse and colleagues conclude, “Cooled, high energy transurethral microwave thermal therapy using a new generation treatment catheter produced safe, durable, clinically relevant results in men with lower urinary tract symptoms caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia for 5 years after treatment with acceptable medical and surgical re-treatment rates.”
SOURCE: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2010.12.054
J Urol 2011;185:1805-1811.
