Our experiences in bipolar radiofrequency thermotherapy system as an alternative treatment in LUTS

We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the bipolar radiofrequency thermotherapy system as a minimally invasive treatment method in lower urinary tract symptom treatment and its effect on the patients' quality of life (QoL). The thermotherapy system was applied to 118 patients between May 2016 and September 2017 with the requirement of surgical treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia, who either could not be operated upon due to their comorbidities or preferred to undergo this procedure as an alternative treatment method. The International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and QoL scores and maximal flow rate (Qmax) and post-voiding residue (PVR) values were evaluated before and after treatment. For the 80 patients who completed the 2-year follow-up period, the Qmax values were observed to be increased at each follow-up evaluation and PVR, QoL and IPSS were observed to be decreased. These changes were statistically significant from the baseline. In this study we found there was 48.8% increase in Qmax, 72.1% decrease in IPSS, 70.8% decrease in the QoL score, 51.1% decrease in PVR of 80 patients who underwent bipolar radiofrequency prostate ablation. The bipolar radiofrequency prostate thermotherapy system can be safely applied as an outpatient treatment in high-risk cases or for those who are anxious about surgical interventions.