Medifocus, Inc., a biotechnology company that uses heat-activation to treat diseases ranging from urological problems to breast cancer, recently announced that almost 100,000 men with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) have been treated with the company’s Prolieve(R) system, a technology is that offers BPH thermodilatation treatment.
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), also known as benign prostatic hypertrophy, is a histologic diagnosis characterized by proliferation of the cellular elements of the prostate, causing the prostate to enlarge and affecting 50% of all men aged over 50.
Thermodilatation utilizes Transurethral Microwave Therapy (TUMT) simultaneously with pressurized and cooled balloon dilatation therapy. The system is an FDA approved commercial product and at the moment is the only Thermodilatation device with patent available on the market. Prolieve(R) is a 45-minute, in-office, outpatient treatment that does not require intravenous sedation. The results are immediate and long-term for patients with BPH.
Dr. David Shusterman, a board certified urologist and founder of NYUrology.com with multiple locations in New York City, stated, “I have been providing the Prolieve(R) treatment to my BPH patients since 2007. It is the only outpatient treatment available that I have used which can provide immediate symptomatic relief directly after a 45 minute treatment. Most of the patients have lasting relief for 2-3 years. However, I also have patients going out over 5 years with sustained improvements to their quality of life as a result of the treatment. Many of these patients elected to get Prolieve(R) treatment because they were not happy with or due to failure of their drug treatments and/or desired not to have a more invasive treatment like laser or surgery. In addition there has been no sexual side effect with the treatment.”
In July 2012, Medifocus purchased the Prolieve(R) device from Boston Scientific. Since then, Medifocus has been able to increase the number of Prolieve(R) users from about 50 to over 350 sites. The company expects to achieve in 2015 a remarkable 100,000 Prolieve(R) treatment milestones. These results demonstrate that thermodilatation treatment is effective, safe and well accepted by both physicians and BPH patients.