Pantai Hospital Sungai Petani performs Malaysia's first Rezum Water Vapour Therapy for benign prostatic hyperplasia

The hospital's consultant urologist, Datuk Dr Zainal Azim Abd Kadir said in a statement here today: "Men suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia have the alternative option to manage their condition, whereby the procedure is quick, relatively painless and can be completed within 10 minutes.

"It is a treatment alternative to surgery. Rezum is a minimally-invasive procedure for men looking to treat their BPH symptoms.

"It uses hot water vapour to reduce the size of the prostate and provides lasting symptomatic relief from BPH without invasive surgery or the potential side effects of prescription drugs."

In the treatment, water vapour is injected into the enlarged prostate tissue in a targeted manner, and when the steam contacts the tissue and turns back into water, the stored energy is released, killing the excess prostate tissue, causing it to shrink and widen the urethra opening.

This will result in progressive improvement of urine flow. The procedure treats the root effect of BPH. The patients can resume quality sleep without bathroom breaks and enjoy life without the symptoms caused by BPH.

BPH is a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate, a condition characterised by the enlargement of the prostate gland. Enlarged prostates affect at least half of men over 60 years old.

BPH is a condition in which the prostate enlarges and squeezes the urethra, causing frustrating symptoms such as frequency of urination, the urge to urinate, a weak or interrupted urine stream, the need to get up several times at night to urinate or even the inability to urinate .

In the same statement, Dr Zainal Azim said that one of the patients who had just undergone the Rezum treatment, Mohd Radzi, 60, shared that within a matter of weeks, he was already urinating more comfortably than he had in probably 10 years.

"It has totally changed my outlook. I'd just gotten used to accepting that my condition was a result of growing old and nothing could be done about it. I didn't fully realise how much it had impacted my life and the relief I felt after the procedure," said Mohd Radzi.