REZUM--HAVE YOU HAD THIS DONE???????
Posted , 385 users are following.
I had a nice conversation today with the President of the "Urology Times". He was telling me that there is a "New Procedure" that has been approved called the "REZUM SYSTEM". The company that makes the system is called "NXThera, Inc". You can google them up and lots of stuff comes up. I called them for a referral and they gave me a Doctor in Minnepolis that has done it over 50 times now. I called his nurse and she said he would call me back and answer my questions on monday. As you guys probably know Doctors are not very good at returning calls but we'll see what happens. Iam not very good at explaining how the procedure works but basically they take the device and put it up the uretha and vaporize the prostate cells which kills them. It works with high pressure "steam" that at a certain degree will kill the prostate tissue. My question for you guys is there anybody out there that has had it done to them and how are you getting along and are there "side effects", etc etc?????
35 likes, 5645 replies
john98818 ChuckP
Posted
rezum is a flawed procedure because it is painful, requires weeks of self cathing after the procedure, only mildly effective. and expensive.
gary37907 john98818
Posted
Can you expand on your opinion!
chuck68670 john98818
Posted
John,
Our hearts go out to you, however your dramatic statements, although they may be Valid, "We" as persons considering such treatment options, notice you provide no objective inclusions of your situation and what transpired. These are things we would need to respond to you intelligently, to offer our help/experiences/etc...
Please consider posting relevant information... your Age, Condition, tests results, size of prostrate, any Median Lube issues, other procedures (why you did or did not consider them), other applicable diagnosis, when/who/where provided the Rezum procedure, what issues caused you to suffer. Any remediation that was attempted, your current situation, prognosis, your options and or plans at this point, etc...
Decorously,
Chuck
Hawk55 ChuckP
Posted
I had the procedure done on 4/25/19. I was instructed to use a fleet enema 2 hours prior to procedure as they admistered a prostate pain block through the rectum into the prostate. Dr. prescribed 10 mg diazepam and one norco tablet to be taken 30 minutes prior to procedure. Also, they injected lidocaine gel into the urethra prior to procedure. These meds plus the prostate block made it tolerable....uncomfortable yes, unbearable no. Dr. did 5 shots of steam including one in median lobe. After the procedure they inserted Foley cath . Wearing this for 5 days was ok but painful at the insertion point...Neosporin ointment helped a lot for that. The cath was removed on the 6th day. They asked me to drink a lot of water and ensure that I could pee. I was fine at the beginning of the day but then the urethra began to close off from the swelling. I was able to pee but with much straining against the swollen prostate. I am at 8 days now since the procedure and still having to push quite a bit to pee. Hope that it will improve soon....right now my condition is worse than before procedure, but doc gave me confidence things will improve.
jeff03573 Hawk55
Posted
i think im the "young" guy here that had it done 3/27, I'm 46 years old. while i wont say this is a failure, at this point i would not do this again. prior to the procedure i was told by my urologist that there was no fix for the median lobe other than something like this. it was here that someone sent me a private message about Urolift no having a solution for the median lobe, but thats too late for me.
i too had a very similar outcome to your present situation. i was getting ready to go back to work when all of the sudden i did not feel well. urgency had increased to the point that i could not go longer than 10 minutes without having to void. add to that, the flow was so bad that i was using intermittent catheters most of the day. Finally i came down with a high fever and went to the ER. i was diagnosed with a severe UTI that had almost tracked to the kidneys.. IV antibiotics were started and the FOLEY wad installed again.
I was livid when i got to my urologists office the next day. i felt like i ordered a ferrari but a pinto had been delivered. i was assured prior to the procedure that within 2 weeks all would be well and id be back to work. not so much.
i left the foley in for another 10 days prior to having it removed. things are better now, i can void with some confidence and the flow is much better. i am "shedding" dead tissue constantly and its now 6 weeks post procedure. i can sleep 3 hours at s time, which is about what it was prior. the only (and i do mean only) advantage i am seeing st this point is that i dont have to formulate a plan to pee in my head and body, it just starts like it used to years ago. other than that, im no fan of this procedure. these doctors and the people that invented this thing should be sued for false advertising, or something. theres NO WAY it takes a "few days" to recover as written in their literature.
my advice, as much as it sucks, have the foley put back in till the tissue has a chance to calm down and the swelling is reduced. theres a couple of comments on this thread that talk about patients having the foley in for 2 weeks doing much better than most. they are right. trust me, i would talk to your doc and see about getting that foley placed again and leave it in for another 7-10 days. yea it sucks, but getting and infection is worse.
good luck.
timothy81571 Hawk55
Posted
You may want to learn self cath so you don't run into issues. I did CIC in week 3, but really needed to in week 2 also . By week 4 it opened up.
oldbuzzard jeff03573
Posted
You had an unfortunate complication with the UTI and removing the Foley probably had nothing to do with it. Some people recover more slowly - I self cathed for almost 4 weeks after Rezum without a UTI. By week 6 I ad turned the corner and 3 years late I'm very happy that I did it.
I'll bet within a few weeks you'll be very much improved.
raygar13 jeff03573
Posted
I disagree, took 15 steam injections, foley for 4 days. First couple of days following catheter removal were slow, but I was able to urinate. steady improvement from then on. Improvement from the 6 week mark to the 3 month mark should be noticeable. 6 to 8 should be the minimum number of injections, with a prostate of 150 cm the dr. gave me 15. If you are going to have the procedure injections should be done to the left and right areas of the prostate and continue every 1/2 cm starting from below the bladder neck. uniform steam coverage which should ablate or kill the cells on the other side of the urethra. The steam doesnt kill the cells, the energy released when steam turns to water ablates the cells. The steam seals the injections. Very, very light bleeding post procedure ( a little pink around the catheter) no pain in the prostate are at all...only tylenol
raygar13 Hawk55
Posted
Hey Hawk just reread your post from 8 days after the procedure. had mine jan 31, 15 shots, foley 4 days. ipss symptom relief 22 to 8 or 9. 150 prostate. how were your results when the swelling went down and overall? my psa also dropped 29.8 to 19.8 after 2 months, 6 month follow up psa on monday. let me know how you are doing
raygar13
Posted
Hey hawk how is everything going? Here is a question for the group. Had a psa from urologist and did standard bloodwork from my primary care which included psa test. rezum jan 31 psa was 29.8. at 2 months psa was 19.8.... went to quest gave them both orders. blood drawn at the same time. Psa from primary care was 24 and from urologist 31. dont see the urologist til aug. 13. have a cut on my hand which was red and showed signs of infection. am on antibiodics til wednesday when I will retest psa. any guesses as to why the 2 results are drastically different and I was expecting psa to be a little lower than 19.8 as more healing took place. interested in opinions
raygar13 ChuckP
Posted
Hey chuck, actually the system delivers high temperature steam which turns to water when it reacts to body temperature, the energy released kills the cells of the prostate. the body then over time absorbs the dead tissue and frees up space outside the urethra. Had procedure end of January, prostate size xl 150 cm. I was given a local pain killer (actually 2) delivered through the rectum. Took no other medications, so I could drive myself home. Procedure went well 15 steam injection, due to the size of the prostate. total procedure time 30 minutes. Catheter for 4 days after. Pain is low about 3 out of 10. the injections are in 9 second intervals, at 7 and you hear the beeps so you can tell, you know the steam is being injected, a little warmth. When I say pain, I mean more like slight discomfort because of the heat. Gradual improvement occurs over the first 90 days. very slight to no bleeding following procedure. Surprisingly no pain in the prostate area which surprised me with 15 injections. 95 percent have no complications to orgasm etc. and I did not have any problems. Improvements are as follows 23 to 11 in the ipss scoring of bph. Better flow, able to control urgencies much better, Leaking is vastly improved. Feels like the mass of the prostate was cut in half. psa was 29.8 reduced to 19.8 at the 2 month period. Go for it
TKM raygar13
Posted
Raygar,
29.8 and 19.8 are high for PSA unless you had a UTI or other circumstances at the time. Did your doctor check for prostate cancer ? If not you should probably have it checked, although the 19.8 may still be high because of the recent Rezum. You could check it again perhaps six month after the procedure. At least discuss it with a doctor. The best way to check for prostate cancer now is by 3T MRI, and have the MRI read by someone who knows what to look for like Dr Karamanian in Houston Texas. He has a website where you can download your MRI images.
Thomas
ken19524 TKM
Posted
Thomas, you're correct in your assumption that the Rezum procedure will elevate the PSA number quite a bit. Mine was around 10 about 2 weeks after the Rezum, but it's now around 2.0. Very typical according to my urologist. However, as you mention, it's still a good idea to be sure about the possibility of cancer.
raygar13 TKM
Posted
had a biopsy (negative) about a year ago. Mri bone scan pelvic scan all negative. prostate size is xl 140 the steady in crease over an 8 year period was psa 16 to 29.8. these numbers are consistent with a large prostate. feels like the prostate was reduced by 50 percent, thinking psa will be down a little more. Also the reduction in psa is consistent with amount of tissue ablated by the rezum procedure. anticipating psa of 15 to 16. as I have continue to show improvement between month 2 and 3 post procedure. Off to urologist on friday, probably will have another biopsy to make sure and establish a new psa baseline.
oldbuzzard raygar13
Posted
Sounds like a lot of biopsies. 3T MRIs are more accurate and less invasive. But after a series of negative biopsies, its pretty clear that your high PSA number isn't due to cancer. I would not get another biopsy - wait a full 6 months after Rezum and have another PSA test.
But you've been tested and retested. 95% of all prostate cancers never cause any harm over a life time and all of the treatments (other than FLA) suck. I would leave well enough alone until you establish a post Rezum PSA baseline and then see if there is significant change from there.
raygar13 oldbuzzard
Posted
I believe the high psa is in line with xl prostate. and after rezume the psa was 19.8 at the 2 month mark. feels like over 50 percent of the mass of the prostate was eliminated in the procedure. psa was part of primary care bloodwork. at you are right it should fall, I think below 15 when all is said and done. Not a fan of biopsies, see urologist next friday for the 1st time post rezume . will update, thanks for replying
raygar13
Posted
2 psa tests at 6 months. primary and urologist done at the same time. 24 from primary 31 from urologist. samples taken at the same time