Long-term effects of transurethral microwave thermotherapy.
BACKGROUND
To identify the clinical valuables predicting a favorable outcome after transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT) of the prostate with Prostatron.


METHODS
One hundred and two patients with lower urinary symptoms were treated with TUMT using a Prostatron device with the low-energy protocol (Prostasoft version 2.0 J). The pre-operative subjective score and objective voiding parameters were collected from the medical record. To test the differences in the risk of the necessity for additional treatments for several subgroups, Kaplan-Meier survival analyses and log-rank tests were used.


RESULTS
The Kaplan-Meier analyses showed that 67% of the patients received additional treatment within five years. The median period for receiving additional treatment was 37 months. The patients with a peak flow rate greater than 6.5 mL per second, with a urethral length less than 40 mm, or with an age over 64 years all demonstrated a significantly longer period before receiving additional treatment, when compared with their counterparts. These three factors were also significant in multivariate analysis to predict the long-term outcome.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall durability of TUMT was limited. Aged patients with a relatively high peak flow rate or with a short prostatic urethral length resulted in lower risk of receiving additional treatments after TUMT.
Ohigashi
Takashi
T
Department of Urology, School of Medicine, Keio University, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan. ohigashi@sc.itc.keio.ac.jp
Baba
Shiro
S
Ohki
Takahiro
T
Nakashima
Jun
J
Murai
Masaru
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008872:Microwaves / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome