Less is more when treating benign prostatic hyperplasia with thermal water vapour

Thermal water vapour therapy that consists of a single injection per prostate lobe for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is both effective and safe, yielding similar improvements in lower urinary tract symptoms and quality of life when compared with a traditional approach that employed variable number of injections by prostate volume, as shown in a study.

Researchers looked at the medical records of 52 men with moderate to severe symptomatic BPH undergoing thermal water vapour therapy. All men had received a single injection of thermal water vapour in each prostate lobe.

Study outcomes such as the maximum urine flow rate (Qmax), postvoid residual (PVR), International Prostatism Symptom Score (IPSS), and the IPSS Quality of Life scale (IPSS QoL) were assessed at baseline and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months.

The men had mean prostate volume of 52.8 cc and mean IPSS of 20.3 cc. IPSS dropped by a mean of 3.95 at 3 months (p=0.02875), 8.5 at 6 months (p=0.01767), and 11.63 at 12 months (p=0.005908).

IPSS QoL decreased by a mean of –1.75 at 12 months (with lower scores indicating mild symptoms; p=0.003799), while QMax increased by a mean of 5.36 mL/s at 12 months (p=0.008445).

Mean time to postoperative catheter removal was 3.5 days. Only a single patient reported ejaculatory dysfunction. All other adverse events reported were mild to moderate in severity and resolved quickly.