CHICAGO, Ill. (Ivanhoe Newswire)- Benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, is a natural enlargement of the prostate. Fifty percent of men in their 50’s will have this condition, along with 80 percent of men in their 80’s. Frequent need to use the bathroom is a common side effect, but more serious problems, such as blood in the urine and bladder stones can be damaging to a man’s health. Ivanhoe News shares the details on a treatment proving to eliminate these issues for good.
Avid cyclist Gary Hoegner is always on the go. But a change in his flow had him hitting the brakes.
“I was having trouble urinating,” Hoegner explains.
Hoegner was suffering from BPH, or an enlarged prostate. It got so bad that it started affecting his work.
“My catheter was changed five times a day and in police work that becomes difficult to find time to change a catheter. It backed up into my kidneys. That led to near kidney failure,” Hoegner says of his difficulties with the BPH diagnosis.
Urologist Dr. Amy Krambeck at Northwestern Medicine says, “Every year, I do see maybe one or two men who are near dialysis because of their enlarged prostate.”
Dr. Krambeck suggested Hoegner have the HOLEP procedure. Using an upgraded MOSES laser, doctors can core out more prostate tissue than previous procedures.
Dr. Krambeck says, “There’s much less bleeding, seeing very little pain associated with it and oftentimes patients can go home the same day without a catheter in place.”
And since more tissue is being cut out, very little is left to grow again.
“I tell most of my patients that this should be the last surgery you will need on your prostate,” Dr. Krambeck says of the new procedure.
After the procedure, Hoegner noticed a change right away, he stated, “I’m urinating like I did 50 years ago.” And he doesn’t worry about anything stopping his flow. “About a month later, I jumped on the bike and haven’t gotten off since.”
Dr. Krambeck says right after the procedure, patients should not do any strenuous activity for a week. Some side effects of HOLEP include blood in the urine and burning with urination. These symptoms usually last a week.
Contributors to this news report include: Milvionne Chery, Executive Producer & Field Producer; Roque Correa, Videographer & Editor.
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MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
TOPIC: MOSES: ONE AND DONE TREATMENT FOR BPH
REPORT: MB #5009
BACKGROUND: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is when the prostate and surrounding tissue enlarges. A man goes through two main prostate growth periods as he ages. The first is early in puberty when the prostate doubles in size, and the second begins around age 25 and continues during most of a man’s life. BPH is when the prostate gets large enough to cause problems. As the gland enlarges, it can squeeze the urethra making the bladder wall thicker. Over time, the bladder may weaken and lose the ability to empty fully. Urine remains in the bladder causing many problems to the lower urinary tract. Immediate attention is required if urine is not able to be passed at all. Other symptoms like weak urine stream or the need to push or strain can many times be monitored.
(Source: https://www.urologyhealth.org/urology-a-z/b/benign-prostatic-hyperplasia-(bph)
HOLEP TREATMENT FOR PROSTATE: Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) is a type of laser surgery used to treat obstruction of urine flow due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). HoLEP was developed as a more effective and potentially less costly surgery for urinary obstruction. The laser is used to cut and remove the bulky prostate tissue that is blocking the flow of urine. As men age, the symptoms of this condition can worsen. Although many cases of urinary obstruction from BPH can be treated without surgery, patients who do not benefit from such medical treatments may eventually need surgery to avoid or deal with long-term problems such as retention of urine, urinary tract infections, and bladder stones.
TWO GENES IDENTIFIED IN PROSTATE ENLARGEMENT: Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered a molecular pattern that signals prostate enlargement and identified two genes that likely play a role in the development of the condition. The study is one of the first to describe a molecular landscape that differentiates enlarged prostate tissue from normal tissue. The team of scientists also discovered that the cell growth behind a ballooning prostate is not uniform. Several cell types comprise the prostate, and abnormal growth appears to come from an outburst of specific sets of cells, rather than an overall increase of all cell types. “So, it’s not just an increase in cells; it’s a fundamental shift in the type of cells that make up the prostate. It’s something we’ve termed ‘cellular relandscaping,’” said professor of pathology Jonathan Pollack, MD, PhD.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Audra Friis Megan McCann
Audra.friis@precisionvh.com memccann@nm.org
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