On Thursday, November 18, specialist urologist and surgeon Dr Shiven Ramkissoon and a dedicated team from Capital Hospital in Durban successfully performed the first Rezum Therapy procedure to be conducted in private practice in South Africa.
Rezum therapy of the prostate is a new, breakthrough treatment for men with enlarged prostrate.
Prostatic problems are quite common in males once they turn 40. Most men are affected with some sort of prostatic condition - either prostate cancer, an infection or inflammation in the prostate called prostatitis, or the more commonly benign prostatic hyperplasia, which is difficulty in passing urine from an enlarged prostate.
This difficulty can manifest in a variety of symptoms - from a slow stream or the inability to pass urine, to waiting long periods of time before the urine comes out or even going to the toilet frequently to pass urine. These are all features in keeping with an enlarged prostate.
Historically, the treatment of an enlarged prostate consisted of medical management. Should this not be sufficient, then treatment would progress on to surgical management.
The traditional management of bladder outlet obstruction, secondary to an enlarged prostate, was a prostatectomy or a surgical removal of the gland. However, this was associated with a large amount of complications, including bleeding and urinary incontinence. The modification on this was an endoscopic procedure called the trans-urethral resection of the prostate, which offered high continence rates, a shorter stay in hospital, less bleeding and a more comfortable patient. However, resection of the prostate also resulted in time away from work, and a hospital stay of up to three to five days.
While Rezum therapy – also known as vapour therapy – for treatment of men with enlarged prostate is pretty much entrenched in first world countries, it is new to South Africa.
It offers similar efficacy and results to the gold standard surgical management, but is a simple, outpatient, office-based treatment, which takes just 10 minutes. It has minimal to no sexual side effects and almost no impact on continence.
“The procedure has become standard treatment in most European countries, and has now been introduced in our country,” explains Dr Ramkissoon. “It was recently carried out at an academic centre in Tygerberg, with good success, and we are proud to officially launch Rezum in private practice for the first time in KwaZulu-Natal at Capital Hospital.”
This historic milestone was co-ordinated by Logan Naidoo, CEO of the Capital Group and the Capital team together with the specialist medical team led by Dr Ramkissoon.
Capital Hospital already has a dedicated prostate unit, offering minimally invasive forms of surgery with the laser prostatectomy. Rezum Therapy is another string in its bow to assist men with prostate problems.