TISSUE ABLATION IN BENIGN PROSTATIC HYPERPLASIA WITH HIGH-INTENSITY FOCUSED ULTRASOUND

The safety and effectiveness of tissue ablation by coagulative necrosi s with high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) applied through a rect al probe to 36 patients with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) was investigated in a phase II clinical trial. Overall, HIFU tre atment was well-tolerated, the. mean hospital stay being 1.1 days. Neg ative side effects were transient urinary retention in 32/36 patients, hematuria in 2 patients and hematospermia resolving after 3-4 weeks ( n = 15). After 3 months the maximum flow rate/s (Q(max)) increased fro m 9.0 +/- 3.9 to 14.4 +/- 7.0 ml/s, the median flow rate/s (Q(M90)) fr om 4.9 +/- 2.4 to 7.6 +/- 4.17 ml/s; the postvoid residual volume decr eased from 128 +/- 88 to 57 +/- 35 ml and the AUA symptom score from 2 5.5 +/- 5 to 13.2 +/- 4.4. In conclusion, it was shown that tissue abl ation in patients with symptomatic BPH using HIFU is safe and dramatic ally reduces both obstructive and irritative symptoms and leads to a s ignificant increase in uroflow and a decrease in postvoid residual vol ume.