Breakthrough Treatment: Shrinking Swollen Prostates With Steam

Benign prostate hyperplasia

Benign Prostate Hyperplasia is a benign condition that occurs in most men as they age. It results in difficulty urinating, drip-like urination, and increased urinary frequency due to an increase in the size of the prostate gland. The prostate gland lies behind the urinary bladder and a swollen prostate puts increased pressure on the urethra.

Aquablation

The treatment for BPH includes medical therapy as well as cauterizing the prostate with heated metals. A heated metallic rod is inserted via the urethral tract to cut off the prostate. However, the side effects can be serious, with high risks of impotence and incontinence.

Steam therapy for BPH

AquaBeam a newer therapy using steam could be used to treat swollen prostates.

The therapy uses a tube to apply steam to the prostate glands. The steam can shrink up the glands by two-thirds. In addition, this approach has fewer side effects and takes less than 15 minutes.

This procedure can allow patients to go home the same day with very little downtime in contrast to the cauterization technique, which requires hospitalization for at least 3 days.

Prof Hashim Ahmed who is behind the ingenious technique said: “I wanted to remove some harm we cause with treatment. “It’s less invasive and has fewer side effects. It could improve thousands of lives.” The surgeon, of London’s Imperial College NHS Trust, hopes it will be widely used.