QUALITY-OF-LIFE ASSESSMENT IN PATIENTS TREATED WITH LOWER ENERGY THERMOTHERAPY (PROSTASOFT-2.0) - RESULTS OF A RANDOMIZED TRANSURETHRAL MICROWAVE THERMOTHERAPY VERSUS SHAM STUDY

Purpose: We evaluated the impact of lower energy transurethral microwa ve thermotherapy on quality of life and quality of sexual function in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Materials and Method s: A total of 50 patients with BPH were randomized to receive either l ower energy transurethral microwave thermotherapy treatment (Prostasof t 2.0) or placebo treatment and followed for 26 weeks after treatment . All patients completed a Madsen symptom score and quality of life qu estionnaire to assess acceptability, daily activities, psychological w ell-being, social activities and improvement in quality of life, A sex ual function questionnaire was used to assess changes in sexual functi on after microwave thermotherapy. Results: A significant difference in voiding parameters and symptom score was found between the transureth ral microwave thermotherapy and sham groups. Maximum uroflow changed f rom 9.6 mi. per second at baseline to 13.9 mi. per second and from 9.9 mi. per second at baseline to 9.6 mi. per second at 26 weeks for tran surethral microwave thermotherapy and sham groups, respectively. Madse n score improved from 13.2 to 5.3 for the transurethral microwave ther motherapy group and from 11.9 to 9.1 for the sham group. For quality o f life measures, a statistically significant difference in favor of th e transurethral microwave thermotherapy group was found only for the a cceptability item. At baseline and after 26 weeks no statistically sig nificant difference was observed between the 2 groups for Quality of L ife measures documenting sexual function. However, almost 20% of patie nts treated by either transurethral microwave thermotherapy or sham cl aimed at 26 weeks after treatment that treatment had influenced sexual function. Conclusions: Although significant changes in objective and subjective parameters were found in patients after lower energy microw ave thermotherapy, the change in quality of life was minimal. In addit ion to the minimal invasiveness of transurethral microwave thermothera py, preservation of sexual function is appealing.