With increasing age, men develop urinary symptoms that become severe enough to consider seeking treatment. Benign Prostate Hypertrophy/Hyperplasia (BPH) is a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland which affects more than 50% of men over the age of 60.
Minimally invasive prostate surgery known as Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP) has almost completely replaced open surgery and thanks to laser technology, there is now a better option. This new procedure, called GreenLight, is increasingly recognised worldwide as the method of choice. It has the same outcomes as TURP but with lower rates of adverse events. There is very little blood loss meaning a quicker recovery and quicker return home for men receiving this laser treatment which vaporises excess prostate tissue.
An emerging treatment known as Prostate Artery Embolisation will be launched in the UK in April 2012 and involves inserting a catheter into the prostatic arteries and sending in minute embolic particles to kill the blood-rich and overgrown prostatic tissues. For further information on becoming part of the monitored clinical introductions into this new treatment for BPH please click here, or click here to contact Interventionalist Radiologist, Dr Nigel Hacking.
