It combines the effectiveness of TURP, the surgical "gold standard" with the safety, comfort and ease of a minimally invasive treatment.

The PVP Procedure uses a very high powered laser to immediately vaporize and precisely remove enlarged prostate tissue.

PVP (Photo-Selective Vaporization of the Prostate) is performed with the KTP laser by Laserscope (Greenlight PVP). This laser treatment of the prostate is a new, minimally invasive surgical technique for treating Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), or enlargement of the prostate.

Greenlight PV utilizes a specially designed laser light source and fiber optic delivery system developed by Laserscope in concert with researchers from the Mayo Clinic and some other institutions around the world.

The PVP procedure combines the immediate symptom relief and the dramatic flow rate improvements of the current "gold standard" procedure (called TURP or Trans-Urethral Resection of the Prostate) with minimal side effects, fast operative and recovery times, and usually no need for a catheter after surgery.

No other BPH treatment option has been shown to clinically provide such dramatic and immediate symptom relief while concurrently providing significant uroflow results and minimal, if any, side-effects. The PVP technique is a fast, outpatient treatment that will satisfy both the subjective (symptom relief) and objective (uroflowometry results) outcomes of a successful BPH treatment. Other minimally invasive BPH treatment options (such as TUMT, microwave, TUNA, thermotherapy) require compromises to be made by the patient and/or the physician. With PVP, there are no compromises, patient's symptoms are drastically reduced and flow rates are significantly improved.

The PVP procedure is performed in an outpatient setting, typically a hospital or surgical center, with average operative times normally less then 60 minutes. The GreenLight PV surgical laser system, which is used to perform the KTP laser PVP treatment, delivers laser light pulses through a specially designed fiber optic delivery device that is inserted through a standard cystoscope. The light pulses are directed towards the prostate tissue. The laser quickly vaporizes and removes the prostatic obstruction without significant bleeding.

Once the procedure is completed, patients have immediate post-operative symptom relief and dramatic improvements in symptoms, urinary flow rates, and bladder emptying. Long-term follow-up data from a Mayo Clinic study indicate that these dramatic improvements have been durable for approximately a 5-year follow-up period.

Post-operative side effects, if any, have been minimal and transient. Patients usually feel well within several days of the procedure, but full recovery can take several weeks. Some blood in the urine is common during the recovery process. This is harmless, and rarely requires treatment. It is common to have decreased fluid with ejaculation after this or any prostate surgery, since the prostate is the gland which makes the fluid portion of the ejaculate. Changes in ejaculation are less with PVP than with TURP.

Because the PVP does not cause deep tissue damage and tissue is effectively removed, some patients are sent home without catheter insertion. Others are sent home with catheters that are removed within 24 hours after treatment.

The main advantages of this treatment compared with TURP's are the much reduced blood loss and therefore, patients are not anaemic and also the lack of absorption of irrigation fluid (and therefore lack of TUR syndrome). Patients generally do not require a catheter and go home on the same day.

The only disadvantage is the lack of prostate tissue available for histological analysis (as it is vaporised). Therefore, Green Light PVP cannot be used to diagnosis caner of the prostate.