[Local hyperthermia in benign prostatic hyperplasia].

In recent years, hyperthermia has been used for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The preliminary results reported were promising. Except for patients with total urinary retention, however, objective voiding parameters have not been reported in detail for patients with "prostatism". In a phase II study we treated 30 patients with BPH by local microwave hyperthermia (915 MHz). The prostate was heated transrectally to 42-43 degrees C in eight sessions of 60 min each. The sessions were given twice a week. To assess the results of the treatment the following parameters were determined before and 4 weeks after hyperthermia therapy: transrectal ultrasound of the prostate with volumetry, urinary flow rate, and residual volume. In all, 28 patients were evaluatable. Only 2/28 showed clinical improvement. Neither the voiding parameters nor the size of the prostate were significantly changed by hyperthermia. The success rate of 7.1% is even lower than the spontaneous temporary regression rate of BPH. Thus, to our mind, hyperthermia cannot be regarded an effective treatment comparable to TUR for BPH.