Microwave hyperthermia in benign prostatic hypertrophy: a controlled clinical trial

Abstract

Objective: To compare the effects of microwave hyperthermia in benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) to sham treatment.

Patients and methods: The trial included 96 patients with proven symptomatic bladder outflow obstruction (BOO) caused by BPH. Patients underwent a full subjective and objective assessment (including urodynamics) before inclusion and again 3 and 6 months later. They were randomly assigned to receive 1 h of microwave hyperthermia or a sham treatment. Of the 96 patients, 93 were assessed at 3 months and 62 at 6 months after treatment.

Results: There was no statistically significant difference in the objective measures of BOO between the treated and control groups of patients. There was an improvement of approximately 40% in all the subjective measures, but there was no significant difference between the treated and control groups.

Conclusion: Microwave hyperthermia, within the parameters defined in this trial, resulted in no significant difference from sham treatment in subjective or objective outcome.