MIAMI BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Men with enlarged prostates can get relief from annoying symptoms such as frequent nighttime urination with a non-surgical treatment that shrinks the gland, suggests research on more than 100 patients being presented at the 26th annual International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET).
Prostate artery embolization (PAE) shrinks the prostate – a gland that surrounds the neck of the bladder in men and helps make semen – by temporarily blocking blood flow to the arteries that feed it. Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), or enlarged prostate, affects most men as they age, including more than half by age 60 and 90 percent by age 85. BPH can cause a variety of problems, including frequent urination, weak urine stream, and a constant feeling of having to urinate. BPH typically is treated with surgery or thermal ablation, which can cause side effects such as retrograde ejaculation (into the bladder) or urinary incontinence.
“We have treated more than 100 patients with PAE and are encouraged by the excellent reduction in symptoms and improvement in quality of life for men who have had the procedure, including some with very large prostates, who normally would require open surgery,” said Francisco C. Carnevale, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. “None of our patients have experienced adverse side effects, and we have followed a number of them for several years, longer than other studies.”
University of Sao Paolo physicians have treated 120 patients, and 97 percent have reported improvement in symptoms and quality of life. Follow-up with patients ranges from three months to more than five years, with an average of 15 months. Symptoms recurred in 14 percent of patients, leading to re-embolization, surgery or medication therapy.
PAE is an experimental treatment in the United States. A study is underway to compare results of PAE to the standard surgical treatment, called transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), which requires general or spinal anesthesia.
For more about ISET, visit www.ISET.org.
