Fife launches pioneering treatment for common issue of enlarged prostate
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The pioneering treatment called Rezum was approved earlier this year by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
It sees small jets of steam injected into the prostate to destroy excess tissue and causes the prostate to shrink over a period of weeks.
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Hide AdTradition treatment involved medication which wasn’t always effective and in some cases can result in side-effects.
Surgical options can remove part of the prostate to improve urine flow out of the bladder, although these interventions are invasive, require a stay in hospital and can affect sexual function.
Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline has become the first site in Scotland to offer the new Rezum treatment.
It takes around 10-20 minutes to complete and because it is less invasive, patients can be treated as day-cases and can return home the very same day.
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Hide AdFeras Al Jaafari, consultant urological surgeon in NHS Fife, said: “The new procedure is significantly less invasive than traditional interventions for the condition, meaning that patients can receive the treatment and return home the same day.
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“Importantly, the procedure enables patients to recover more quickly than alternative surgical interventions, and because the treatment takes only 20 minutes, patients are required to spend much less time under general anaesthetic, which is ultimately safer.”
The introduction of the Rezum procedure is the latest urological innovation pioneered in the Kingdom.
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Hide AdDr Christopher McKenna, NHS Fife medical director, said: “While COVID-19 has affected many of our elective services, including urology, we are continuing to seek out new ways of improving the care and treatment we provide to patients here in Fife.
“Successfully treating an enlarged prostate can significantly improve people’s day-to-day lives, and this new procedure allows us to do this without the adverse impacts often seen with other treatments.
“In addition to the numerous benefits this treatment can offer to patients, the nature of the procedure means that it can be performed in a fraction of the time it takes to perform conventional surgery.”