Read the Latest From BOPDHB CE, Helen Mason - 5 March 2019 6 Mar 2019

Professor Peter Gilling talks about a groundbreaking research project underway in Tauranga.

Professor Peter Gilling talks about a groundbreaking research project underway in Tauranga.

Here in Tauranga we’re currently conducting research into a new device which could lead to real benefits for men with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH). BPH is a urinary outflow obstruction suffered by many men as they age and our 24-month study is testing ways to relieve it.

It’s important for us, as we’re the first in the world to be trialling it. If it does prove successful over the long term, and we have no reason to believe it won’t, it will be groundbreaking.

The Zenflow spring system when implanted, helps relieve the growth pushing in on the urethra restricting the urinary flow. So far 30 stents have been implanted and another 40-50 patients will be involved in the Zest EU study altogether.

The goal is that we will be able to do this procedure here in the clinic, rather than have it be a hospital-based procedure. That it would be under light sedation rather than anaesthetic.

People with this issue will commonly see their GP and be put on medication, which may have side effects. Many want a non-invasive, non-surgical option and this is it. Medications can have side effects as can surgery. This does not. It staves off the need for surgery in the short-term. It replaces older stents such as the UroLift and TIND devices.

The study runs for two years and then there’s a further year to get FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval in the United States. So it will be late 2020 to early 2021 before it is market ready. Then any urologist in the world could perform the procedure in their practise.

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