New Enlarged Prostate Treatment Showing Positive Results

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It's something most men don't want to talk about, so many suffer in silence.

But, because they don't talk about it, they also don't know that a lot of other guys have the same problem.

As men age, so do their prostate glands. However, there is a new option for treating enlarged prostates.

"I would have this urge to urinate, and when I'd go it was just like a dribble," Edward Gallagher said. "I figured, well, I'm getting older, so maybe I must live with it,"

These urinary symptoms are common with a problem called BPH, or benign prostatic hypertrophy. By age 50, half of all men have some degree of it, and by age 80, 80 percent do.

"Frequency, urgency, nocturia, which is getting up at night, and that severely impacts their quality of life," Allegheny Health Network Urologist Dr. Frank Costa said.

The prostate is a walnut shaped gland that makes the fluid that carries sperm. It sits at the base of the bladder. With BPH, the cells multiply over time in a non-cancerous way, making the prostate bigger. It blocks the flow of urine, which leads to the troublesome symptoms.

Traditional approaches have included medicines to shrink the prostate, but these only work half the time and must be taken forever.

There's also surgery to remove tissue to open the channel, but this involves a catheter, bleeding, and sexual side effects.

But now, a new treatment has come along, called UroLift.

It involves getting to the prostate through the urethra with video guidance. Two small staples are placed to hold the lobes of the prostate up and away to relieve the obstruction. It's done under local anesthesia with sedation, and takes less than half an hour.

"Imagine a set of curtain drapes, and curtain rods that lift the curtains to the side," Dr. Costa said.

"It was painless. Being a devout coward, I really appreciate that," Gallagher said.

It's a good option for people who want to get off of lifelong medication. But you can't have this done if you have cancer, or if the problem has gone on for so long that the bladder muscles have thickened.

"There are no side effects as it relates to sexual function," Dr. Costa said. "Patients resume their activity within a day or two. Their symptom improvement is almost immediate."

The device was approved in Europe four years ago, and in the United States two years ago. It is covered by Medicare and insurance.

For Gallagher, it has worked wonders.

"I feel so much more relaxed, and I don't have this constant urge when there's nothing happening," he said. "When I have the urge to urinate, I urinate. I just don't stand there and say, 'Oh, god,' and that's what I like the best about it."

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