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Rezum is a procedure that shrinks an enlarged prostate by heating it with short bursts of steam.

It avoids the need for longer, more complicated surgery, with the operation taking around 20 minutes.

Prostate enlargement, also know as (BPE), is common in men aged over 50, affecting nearly 4 million men each year in England.

It places pressure on the bladder and urethra often causing a frequent need to urinate or difficulties urinating, which can become severe and make everyday activities difficult to manage.

For 10 years, Ray Bay-Madsen had been rushing to reach the toilet in time.

Tablets had helped, but not completely, and Rezum appealed because it wasn’t a big operation.

Like Ray, John Ford found his prostate problems meant he’d lost control of his bladder.

It closed down his life, making him scared to go very far from home. He said:

“I was becoming anti-social – we turned down lots of invitations to go to things. In the end, I opted for this procedure ".

Both men were treated at ��ѻ��ý ��ѻ��ý Foundation Trust (CUH) by consultant urological surgeon, Mr Kasra Saeb-Parsy.

He said using Rezum meant his patients no longer waited months – or even years – for treatment.

“We used to do our prostate surgery at Addenbrookes, which is a big, busy trauma hospital. So getting theatre time and beds was always difficult.

“With Rezum, we can use our smaller hospital in Ely. We can do the operation as a day case and now get through cases very quickly.”

Younger patients like it, he said, as possible complications such as incontinence or ejaculation problems don’t happen.

And it��ѻ��ý good for some older, frail patients as it can be carried out under sedation rather than anaesthetic.

For the ��ѻ��ý, there��ѻ��ý an estimated saving of more than £550 over four years for every patient treated with the new procedure.

Patients go home the same day with a catheter – a tube that empties the bladder.

When it��ѻ��ý taken out up to five days later, they get on with their normal life while seeing symptoms continue to improve over the next two to three months.

Ray says he couldn’t be more pleased, especially as he��ѻ��ý no longer constantly looking for toilets every time he leaves home.

“It��ѻ��ý made such a difference – now I feel much more confident when I go out. And I don’t need any more medication, which is a real plus.”

And John agrees: “My quality of life was pretty poor but now it��ѻ��ý changed tremendously,” he said.

Alongside Rezum, the ��ѻ��ý in England is rolling out six other pioneering treatments next week.

They include a tiny balloon to treat chronic sinusitis, a portable digital chest drainage device to help patients recover more quickly from heart and lung problems and an automated blood cell replacement system to treat patients with sickle cell disease. There are also several other innovations to treat prostate conditions.

��ѻ��ý chief executive Amanda Pritchard announced that the innovations would ensure patients can be treated for often debilitating conditions faster, while also reducing their length of stay in hospital, freeing up staff time to continue routine care and operations.

The seven treatments which have been approved for use if clinically appropriate for patients include:

• XprESS, a novel treatment for blocked sinuses which works by inflating a tiny balloon inside the patient��ѻ��ý nose, clearing blockages and relieving headaches and pain.
• PLASMA, a new way of treating enlarged prostate, where an electrical current passed through a surgical tool is used to cut out tissue while sealing the wound at the same time, reducing bleeding during surgery.
• Rezum is a prostate treatment which avoids the need for longer, more complicated surgery by using bursts of steam to shrink an enlarged prostate.
• Urolift is a much less invasive treatment that relieves the symptoms of an enlarged prostate by using small, permanent implants to stop the gland blocking the flow of urine.
• GreenLight laser treatments are also used for treating prostate issues and can be carried out in a day without the need for patients to stay overnight.
• Thopax, a portable digital chest drainage device to help patients recover more quickly from heart and lung problems using the latest digital technology to provide an accurate measure of a patient��ѻ��ý progress.
• Spectra Optia is a system that helps sickle-cell patients by automatically replacing disease-affected red blood cells with healthy ones from a donor.

The devices will be adopted across the ��ѻ��ý from the beginning of April as part of the MedTech Funding Mandate policy – an ��ѻ��ý Long Term Plan commitment which supports the implementation of proven medical devices, diagnostics and digital products.

The promised that patients would benefit from faster adoption of cutting-edge technology and treatments.

Since the ��ѻ��ý Long Term Plan was published, ��ѻ��ý England has supported the increased use of the headache-busting device GammaCore, the 3D heart imaging technology HeartFlow, SecurAcath and a test to rule out preeclampsia .

The technologies being supported through the MedTech Funding Mandate will save the ��ѻ��ý in England up to £57.5 million per year, compared to the cost of more traditional methodologies.