Rezum BPH treatment
Rezum is a non-surgical, minimally invasive procedure performed under local anesthetic and is a recent addition to the growing number of treatments available to BPH patients. Urine flow is improved using steam to remove excess prostate tissue and relieve pressure on the urethra. The excess prostate tissue is then safely passed during urination.
The procedure
After a local anesthetic is administered to the bladder and prostate area, the hand-held Rezum device uses heated sterilised water to apply short bursts of steam directly to excess prostate tissue. The process is precise and can be repeated as necessary with the dosage dictated by the structure and dimensions of the individual prostate.
Treatment recovery
Patients can usually go home within a few hours of their procedure, following a short time in recovery. Patients will have their ability to urinate assessed during the recovery time. Patients will pass dead tissue during urination and although this could continue for weeks, symptomatic relief is often instant with improved urine flow following.
Suitable candidates
Rezum is ideal for patients hoping to avoid invasive surgical procedures and extended stays in hospital. As with all new technology, procedures are still being assessed for suitability among the various individual patient diagnoses and conditions, hence Rezum could prove inappropriate to some BPH patients.
Expected results
Despite being introduced to the UK recently, the therapy has been available in the US for a number of years and has proved similarly effective among treatment counterparts such as UroLift and iTind. The procedure offers BPH patients improved urine flow and symptomatic relief, whilst avoiding surgical complications or side effects such as erectile dysfunction.¹
¹ Official Journal of American Urological Association, Minimally Invasive Prostate Convective Water Vapor Energy Ablation, May 2016
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