[Hyperthermic treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia by a prostathermer]

Prostate thermotherapy consisting of 6 sessions of intrarectal 60 min irradiation of 915 MHz microwave generated by a prostathermer (Blodan, Isreal) was performed once or twice a week on 30 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. Excluding 2 cases who refused further therapy at the first session because of rectal discomfort, 28 cases were evaluated for the efficacy of the treatment. Good or fair improvement in subjective symptoms was observed in 24 (85.7%) of the cases. Nocturia was significantly relieved from 2.9 to 2.0 a night. Among the objective responses, no improvement was achieved as to residual urine or prostate size, while a significant increase of maximum or average flow rate on uroflowmetry was observed. Adverse effects were minor or moderate, including 2 cases of urethral bleeding and rectal discomfort, 2 cases of lower urinary tract infection and 1 case of hypotension, which occurred at the 5th session. The scoring criteria taking into account of both subjective and objective responses showed that the efficacy is good in 10 cases (33.3%) and fair or good in 20 cases (66.7%). These results indicated the usefulness of the prostathermer as one of non-surgical therapies for benign prostatic hyperplasia.