[Treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy using balloon dilation].

Balloon dilation of the prostatic urethra was performed for the management of benign prostatic hypertrophy. The patients selected were mainly high risk patients who were poor surgical candidates for transurethral resection of the prostate. Ten patients between 61 and 87 years old with a mean age of 77.8 years were treated. Of the 10 patients 6 had urinary retention. The procedures were performed under spinal anesthesia, using 75 Fr dilation balloon for 10 minutes twice at 3 atmospheres. In a couple of months after treatments, 5 patients showed improvement in both uroflowmetry and clinical symptoms. Three patients revealed improvement of clinical symptoms only and 2 were in vain. One year after treatment, 3 out of 6 patients had persistent improvement. Balloon dilation of prostatic urethra was safe and showed promising effectiveness for high risk patients.