Mr James Forde
Consultant Urologist, Beaumont Hospital
Mr Richard Power
Consultant Urologist, Beaumont Hospital
BPH may be common, but as more treatments are developed, concerns over hospital stays and sexual side effects have decreased.
As patients continue to look for information about benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), consultants are finding that many will have a surgical option in mind. Consultants James Forde and Richard Power of Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, have certainly found this to be the case.
Mr Power says, “Common BPH treatments such as the TURP, often come with side effects that can be inconvenient for the patient such as a hospital stay to sexual dysfunction. So there is demand for minimally invasive treatments as these can be done in just a day.”
Enabling patient choice
He says, “BPH is such a common issue in men – around 50% of all over 50s will have some form of the condition. And so when lifestyle choices and medication start to fail, many will search for a surgical option that suits them. It’s all about patient choice.”
Rezūm is one such minimally invasive treatment where results are seen within three months. While not available in all hospital groups at present, interest in the procedure is increasing among both patients and urologists.
BPH is such a common issue in men – around 50% of all over 50s will have some form of the condition.
Reducing time in hospital
Mr Forde continues, “There are several advantages to a minimally invasive procedure such as Rezūm. It involves very short nine second injections of water vapour into the prostate with whole procedure only taking around 10-minutes. The patient is discharged later that day with just a urinary catheter that is left in for about four to seven days. One of the goals of the procedure is that a patient will no longer have to take medications for their BPH symptoms which can cause side effects such a difficulty with ejaculation or possibly a reduction in libido.”
Rezūm is just one of a handful of minimally invasive treatments for BPH that has been made available in recent years, and data collected so far puts it on track to compare favourably with the TURP, in that 90% of patients remain satisfied or very satisfied at the five-year point and almost all would recommend to a friend. What’s more, Mr Power adds, “There’s some feedback to suggest that with Rezūm, you wouldn’t require a replacement procedure for up to five years.”
Long term positive outcomes
For Mr Forde as a consultant, the choice of treatments such as Rezūm means that men have much more to choose from than ever before. He says, “I think in terms of patient choice it has never been better, we can offer durable treatments which reduce the side effects of both medication and other surgical methods.”
“Going forwards, I’m sure we’ll continue to see less invasive treatments with little side effects and positive long-term outcomes.”
Medical professionals who would like to know more about Rezūm, visit www.bphsolutions.eu