Ravi Munver, MD, discusses the versatility of Aquablation treatment for BPH

Author(s):

Key Takeaways

Aquablation is a versatile treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia, suitable for prostates of any size or shape, unlike other therapies limited by anatomical variations.
Contraindications include patients on blood thinners who cannot pause medication and those without a rectum, as the procedure requires transrectal ultrasound guidance.
Most patients can safely undergo Aquablation by temporarily stopping anticoagulation therapy, making contraindications relatively rare.

"Aquablation can be used for small, medium, large, and extra-large prostates," says Ravi Munver, MD.

In this video, Ravi Munver, MD, discusses the versatility of Aquablation with the HYDROS Robotic System for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Munver is the vice chair of the department of urology at Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC), as well as the director of minimally invasive and robotic urologic surgery, the chief of living donor kidney surgery, and the director of the minimally invasive robotic laparoscopic and reconstructive oncology fellowship program at HUMC in New Jersey.

Transcription:

What factors do you consider when determining whether a patient is a good candidate for treatment with Aquablation?

When I think about the ideal candidate for Aquablation, this is a 1-stop-shop, and what I mean by that is it's a one-size-fits-all. Aquablation can be used for small, medium, large, and extra-large prostates. Prostates come in all shapes and sizes, and most other resective therapies and non-resective therapies for BPH are limited by size, shape, or variations in anatomy. Aquablation has no limitations, so any prostate, any size or shape, can be treated with [it].

There are a couple of contraindications, and 1 of the main contraindications is a patient that's on blood thinners. If someone is actively on blood thinners and cannot stop the blood thinners for an operation, that is a risk for bleeding, just as it would be for many of the other resective therapies. In those instances, there are options that are available for the patient. A second potential contraindication for Aquablation is for someone who doesn't have a rectum, or if they don't have the ability to place an ultrasound probe in the rectum, because this is ultrasound guidance, and it's done through a transrectal ultrasound probe. Those are the 2 main contraindications. But I'll tell you, in my years of doing Aquablation, I've never come across someone without a rectum, and I've never had to really talk about many patients who have been on active anticoagulation who could not at least stop the therapy for a couple of days before the operation and then resume the therapy shortly thereafter.

This transcript was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.