Sharon Regional offers new therapy for prostate treatment

May 11—SHARON — A new procedure offered at Sharon Regional Medical Center is offering men with prostate problems relief in multiple ways.

Known as Rezum Water Vapor Therapy, it treats men with what the medical community calls benign prostatic hyperplasia, a common kind of prostate enlargement.

"Many of my patients begin seeing relief in just a couple of weeks," Dr. Mohammed Al-Areef, a Sharon Regional urologist said.

BPH affects about 50 percent of men by age 60 and up to 90 percent by age 85.

Enlargement of the prostate can compress the urethra, the natural tube that carries urine out of the body, which can reduce the flow of urine from the bladder.

Symptoms include: having an irregular flow of urine, a weak stream, straining and getting up a night to urinate. If a man is diagnosed with BPH there can be multiple treatment options based on their condition.

Among them are medications — which can have side effects.

One type of surgery, known as a transurethral resection of the prostate, or TURP, is a procedure that cuts away a section of the prostate.

"That's more invasive," Al-Areef said in comparing it to Rezum. "And it requires anesthesia, which isn't needed with Rezum."

A major bonus of Rezum is that it's an outpatient procedure.

"This is a procedure that only takes about five minutes," Al-Areef. "And my patients can return home the same day."

The concept behind Rezum is actually simple. Sterile water is used to create water vapor in a small piece of equipment that looks like a gun with a long thin nozzle.

The water vapor is aimed at the obstructive prostate tissue. When the steam turns back into water, the stored energy is released causing the targeted cells to die.

The body naturally rids those dead cells over time shrinking the prostate.

A catheter is needed after the treatment with the time period varying, but typically it's for three to seven days, according to Boston Scientific, a medical equipment provider.

But Al-Areef said the catheter isn't a problem for most in this procedure.

"You can go to work the next day," he said.

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