Prostatic urethroplasty with balloon catheter as a nonsurgical alternative for benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Prostatic urethroplasty with a balloon catheter is an easy procedure to perform, but certain guidelines must be followed to avoid complications. This procedure will reduce the overall treatment cost of benign prostatic hyperplasia significantly. Preliminary results range from 70% to 85% symptomatic improvement or resolution of the prostatism symptoms. Its recurrence rate is still not known, but a small one is expected. Nevertheless, because of the noninvasiveness, low cost, and simplicity of the procedure, it potentially could be repeated, if necessary. This procedure is one that when it is done in combination with another specialist, in this case a urologist, the patient will benefit by the use of the expertise of both the urologist's knowledge of the disease of the urinary system and the interventional radiologist's skills with catheters and guide wires.