Benign prostatic hypertrophy treatment by transurethral radiofrequency hyperthermia with Thermex II

We selected 50 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia to be treated with hyperthermia at 44.5 degrees C. The treatment was performed with Thermex II. We excluded from this study all patients with a suspicion of prostatic adenocarcinoma or other previous surgical intervention on the prostate and we also excluded patients with pacemakers or coagulation problems. The follow-up time for these patients was 6 months. They were all evaluated by flow rate, measurement of postmicturation residue. Madsen score and transrectal sonography at 1, 3 and 6 months. We did not notice any modification of the prostatic volume, no modification of the urine residue but a moderate improvement of the flow rate. A significant improvement was observed on the symptom score since subjective symptoms were seen in 68% of the patients. Our results show that this method of treatment seems to compete with other classic medical treatments especially in the case of patients with a prostatic adenoma equal or smaller than 40 g and that hyperthermia is particularly active on irritative symptoms but does not compete with classic surgical procedures.