Although designed for in-office use, water vapor thermal therapy remains a painful procedure, and oral ± intravenous sedation is often required. The Schelin Catheter® is an innovative bladder catheter that delivers local anaesthesia to the prostate in a sterile transurethral way.

The study showed that using a pure local anaesthetic protocol with the Schelin Catheter® proved to be effective in managing perioperative pain and patient discomfort related to the water vapour therapy procedure, with very few cases requiring conscious intravenous sedation.

The authors conclude that given that water vapour therapy is mainly offered under general anaesthesia in European countries, the use of the Schelin Catheter® could bring many advantages: no need for an anaesthesia team, shorter operating room and hospital stay, faster patient recovery, lighter load on surgical waiting lists and could therefore be cost-effective.

Reference:
1. Barriere H et al. Clinical Experience and Video Description of Minimally Invasive Surgery for Benign Prostatic Obstruction using the Schelin Catheter®, The French Journal of Urology (2024), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fjurol.2024.102845