Evaluation of the effect of the ethanol injection in prostate tissue for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia

BACKGROUND: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the most common ailing diseases in older men. Selection for an effective and minimally invasive method for treatment of BPH, especially when BPH is associated with high-risk comorbidities, is mandatory. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the efficacy of ethanol alcohol injection in the benign prostatic hyperplasia. METHODS: A total of 19 patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to BPH that had the condition for enrolling this study, were treated with intra prostatic injections of ethanol. Endoscopic injection of 10-20mL ethanol was carried out at 5-10 sites in the prostate. Prostatic Specific Antigen (PSA) International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), maximum flow rate, prostate volume, post void residual and side effects or complications incidence were collected. Statistics were carried out using with Stata 11 software program. and the appropriate statistical test was used according to the type of data. The level of significance was less than 0.05. RESULTS: Mean age was 68.52 years. After 6 months of treatment, prostate volume, international prostate symptom score, Prostatic Specific Antigen, and post void residual volume of patients were significantly decreased when compared with the pretreatment values (48.311 +/- 23.21 vs. 37.05 +/- 19.93 cc, 20.94 +/- 2.46 vs.12.15 +/- 2.65 points, 3.98 +/- 3.89 ng/dL vs.2.05 +/- 1.93 ng/dL and 71.68 +/- 87.58cc vs. 24.21 cc +/- 35.02 respectively. P<0.05) and Peak Flow Rate significantly increased (6.33 +/- 4.18ml/s vs.14.83 +/- 5.72 mL/s, P<0.05). Side effects were rare. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of this study ethanol injection in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia is a low-risk, low-cost, fast-acting treatment with low complication and can behave as a good alternative treatment instead of invasive procedures to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia. The results of this study need to confirm with the further studies with larger sample size and longer follow-up period.