Dr Martin Loehr talking to patients

Water vapour therapy for benign prostate enlargement according to the Rezūm principle

Rezūm Therapy gently removes benign enlarged prostate tissue without medication

For the treatment of benign prostate enlargement, so-called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), our clinic has recently started to use the what is called Rezūm Water Vapour Therapy, which uses the therapeutic effect of hot steam. The name Rezūm is an artificial word that originated in the USA and is pronounced “rezoom”. Comparable to the other gentle methods of BPH treatment used at our clinic (Greenlight laser, Evolvelaser), the Rezūm procedure also involves inserting a probe into the urethra. The patient is sedated with a local anaesthetic and hardly notices anything.

Additional medication is not required. Furthermore, the treatment does not seem to have any impact on the erectile function of the patient. Shortly after the treatment, the patient can return to their previous quality of life and if the prostate tissue grows back, which is not uncommon, this particularly gentle Rezūm therapy may be repeated at any time.

The top illustration shows the situation before treatment with the Rezūm therapy. The middle illustration shows the Rezūm probe inserted into the urethra and the bottom illustration shows how the hyperplastic, that is, the excess tissue shrinks back to normal size. The number of water vapour bursts varies with the size of the prostate. The schematic illustrations are intended to demonstrate how the procedure works.

Video animation of the treatment process The video is in English. (Courtesy of Boston Scientific)

Study for download

Those who would like to delve deeper into Rezūm Water Vapor Therapy can read the English language study entitled “Rezūm Water Vapor Thermal Therapy for Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Associated With Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: 4-Year Results From Randomized Controlled Study" (published in UROLOGY, 21/01/2019). You can also download the study as a PDF document.