RELATIONSHIP OF RESPONSE TO TRANSURETHRAL HYPERTHERMIA AND PROSTATE VOLUME IN BPH PATIENTS

A response to transurethral microwave hyperthermia (TUHT) at 915 MHz and its relationship to prostate volume was examined in 63 poor surgical risk benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients. All patients had moderate-to-severe obstructive signs and symptoms, and received greater-than-or-equal-to 5 TUHT one-hour sessions. Treatment temperature was controlled on the urethral surface at 45-degrees-C +/- 1-degrees-C. Follow-up ranged from twelve to forty-four months (mean 18 months). The mean prostate volume was 57 cc (range 10-301 cc). There were 40 patients (63 %) with prostate volume less-than-or-equal-to 50 cc and 23 (37 %) with a volume > 50 cc. Treatment failure was seen in 6 patients (10 %). It was 10 percent in 40 patients with smaller glands and 9 percent for those 23 with larger prostates, N.S. at p = 0.49. Subjective treatment response was seen in 58 patients (92 %). It was 90 percent for the 40 patients with less-than-or-equal-to 50 cc prostates vs, 96 percent for the 23 with > 50 cc prostates, N.S. at p = 0.75. This study suggests that the initial prostate volume is not an important parameter predicting response to TUHT.