Temporary prostatic stents as a replacement for urinary catheters following transurethral microwave thermotherapy: A retrospective review

Abstract

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common cause of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men. In our practice, we employ Transurethral Microwave Thermotherapy (TUMT) as an effective and minimally invasive means of treating BPH for patients presenting with small to moderate prostate size. TUMT utilizes the transfer of heat to necrotize prostatic tissue in the treatment zone, resulting in prostatic edema that can temporarily exacerbate symptoms during the post-procedure recovery period. Management of post-procedure voiding symptoms often requires the use of an indwelling urinary catheter (IUC), in some cases, for an extended period. We systematically replace post-TUMT IUC with temporary prostatic stents (TPS) to alleviate voiding symptoms, reduce infection risk and improve the quality of life during recovery. The purpose of this study is to assess the clinical efficacy of TPS using The Spanner® Temporary Prostatic Stent in men with BPH, post initial catheterization following TUMT. This review documents the effects of TPS on post-void-residual (PVR), infection rate, and complication rate in 25 consecutive men treated with our TUMT/TPS protocol. Our data demonstrates that TPS had effectively reduced edema-related urethral resistance in the post-TUMT recovery period, resulting in reduced PVR and no incidence of infection.

Keywords

• lower urinary tract symptoms
• temporary prostatic stent
• benign prostatic hyperplasia
• transurethral microwave thermotherapy
• catheter associated urinary tract infection
• minimally invasive therapy