Water vapor thermal therapy for indwelling urinary catheter removal in frail patients.

Purpose: To report the efficacy and safety of water vapor thermal therapy to achieve catheter removal in frail patients with refractory acute urinary retention.

Methods: Data from consecutive frail patients with indwelling urinary catheter undergoing the Rezūm™ therapy (Boston Scientific Corporation, Marlborough, MA) at a single center between October 2017 and June 2021 were prospectively collected. The included patients were deemed unfit or at high risk of complications for conventional benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) surgery. Prostate volumes up to 120 mL were considered eligible. The primary endpoint was successful cessation of catheter dependency, assessed postoperatively and up to 1 year of follow-up.

Results: A total of 24 men met our inclusion criteria. The median age, Charlson comorbidity index, and duration of preoperative catheterization were 77 years (IQR 67-86), 6 (IQR 3-7), and 113 days (IQR 87-159), respectively. Two cases (8.3%) of postoperative complications were recorded (Clavien II and Clavien IIIa). After a median postoperative catheterization time of 21 days (IQR 11-32), all patients regained spontaneous voiding. During follow-up, two patients died and a total of 22 patients completed the 1 year follow-up. All patients maintained spontaneous voiding without recurrence of urinary retention. No surgical retreatment was performed. In terms of pharmacological management, 22/24 patients (91.7%) had a BPH medication pre-Rezūm™; this decreased to 8/22 patients (36.3%) post-Rezūm™ (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: In this single-institution, prospective, and observational study, water vapor thermal therapy was found to be effective and safe in restoring successful spontaneous voiding in a cohort of elderly and frail patients.