As any man ages, there are health risks and certain conditions that need to be kept a close eye on. For example, from the age of 50 up towards retirement age and beyond, as many as one in three men face the risk of developing benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) – an uncomfortable and painful enlargement of the prostate.
Just as no two men are truly alike, so too are no two diagnoses or recommended courses of treatment for BPH ever alike. It’s why getting in touch with our team of medical professionals for an appointment and advice is such a good idea – but in today’s article, we will explore what to expect from both those conversations, and the treatments open to you for BPH if it’s diagnosed.
Depending on the severity of your symptoms and the time that has passed since you first noticed them – versus when you are getting our team of medical professionals involved – you have a number of options in how to overcome this condition.
The best news? Pioneering new technologies and procedures mean that, even if you have BPH that would classically have been recommended for surgery, there are less invasive options open to you if that’s what you prefer.
Can you treat BPH without surgery?
Mild cases of BPH, or those that are identified and resolved early on in the patient journey by our medical team, are able to alleviate your symptoms with either a course of medication, or with some small changes to your lifestyle and your diet.
BPH causes pain and discomfort, as well as complications urinating – be that requiring far more frequent bathroom breaks, or having difficulty keeping or sustaining your stream at all.
Because BPH causes the enlargement of the prostate, treating it as early on as possible is important, but not always doable. Yet while classically the only alternative to catching it early was for the patient to instead get surgery to correct the issue, our team is able to offer you another alternative.
This treatment – prostatic artery embolization (PAE) – is far quicker and much less invasive. An appointment with our experts can help you understand it in more depth – but for now, here are a few tips to keep in mind.
What are the advantages in treating BPH with PAE?
Simply put, one of the biggest advantages of PAE is its convenience. While full surgery is demanding on the mind and body of a patient, with a recovery time that is often longer than one’s obligations make feasible, PAE is a procedure that ordinarily takes a trained medical professional less than an hour to do.
Better yet, PAE will often see you back on your feet and ready to lead an ordinary life only a day after the procedure. For those of us who are nervous about surgery or simply do not have the time to fully commit to a big procedure, PAE offers a viable and very appealing alternative.
How does PAE work when treating BPH?
Many of the complications that cause BPH in men of all ages – but especially between ages 50 and 60 – are due to the way blood flow affects the prostate. Because of this, PAE is a very effective treatment, as it diverts and better controls your blood flow to ensure that unhealthy areas of the prostate aren’t taking on more than they can handle.
By enhancing control of the blood flow in the body, a trained interventional radiologist – those are our medical team who perform PAE – can reduce the enlargement and inflammation of your prostate.
This happens through X-ray control of delicate instrumentation that is entirely coordinated externally by our expert hands. It’s a highly technical procedure, essentially remotely controlling tools that will alleviate BPH without opening the body.
Creating an appointment with our team of medical professionals can go into the procedure and what to expect from it in more depth.
Are all patients eligible for PAE to treat BPH?
BPH patients who have existing heart conditions brought on from diabetes or smoking are often heavily dissuaded from undertaking PAE as a BPH treatment. However, the good news is that most other patients have the right to choose if they would like to undertake this more modern way to treat BPH or not.
Those patients who come to us via a booked appointment and advise of other health conditions that make traditional surgeries of any kind a highly risky or inadvisable way forward, for example, are a fantastic candidate for PAE treatment.
However, even the most healthy patient experiencing BPH who comes to speak with our team of medical professionals is able to decide they want PAE to help their condition. There is no qualifying factor or specialist incentive – simply get in touch with us and we will talk openly with you on the best steps forward.