Treatment Treatment for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)

If benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is affecting your life or sleep, then it’s time to seek treatment. As the symptoms get worse, this can have long standing effects on your bladder and quality of life.

Alpha-blockers

“Urine channel openers” – relax the smooth muscle of the prostate gland and thus improve urinary symptoms.

5-alpha-reductase inhibitors

“Prostate shrinkers” – block the production of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is felt to play a pivotal role in the prostate growth.

Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP) is the prostate surgery procedure most commonly used to treat BPH and is technically a minimally invasive procedure. The surgeon uses a camera and a this hot wire to resect the prostate tissue that is blocking the urethra. This is done through the urethral channel in the penis. By removing the tissue blocking the channel the urine can exit from the bladder.

Risks and complications include:

Bleeding
Fluid absorption
Hyponatremia (low sodium)
Incontinence
Very rarely erectile dysfunction

This procedure uses a GreenLight Laser™ that emits a laser energy wavelength that is absorbed by oxyhemoglobin.
Essentially the prostate tissue is vaporized in the process in a nearly bloodless fashion.

Risks include:

Need for blood transfusion
Fluid absorption
Hyponatremia
Incontinence
Very rarely impotence

These risks are reduced in PVP compared to traditional TURP.

There are a variety of other minimally invasive treatments:

UroLift^® | FDA Cleared BPH Treatment for Enlarged Prostate
Transurethral needle ablation (TUNA)
Transurethral microwave therapy (TUMT)
Interstitial laser coagulation of the prostate (ILC)

Simple Prostatectomy is done for patients with urinary retention who have very large prostates over 80 grams. All surgeries require hospitalization and a drainage tube called Foley catheter that will remain from 2-7 days.

This can be done a variety of ways:

Open Retropubic Simple Prostatectomy

Through an incision, the surgeon will move the bladder aside, cut into your prostate, and remove the blocking core of the gland. The capsule or shell of your prostate is then closed.

Open Suprapubic Simple Prostatectomy

Your surgeon will make an incision in the lower abdomen, then open the bladder to remove prostate tissue through the bladder.

Robotic Simple Prostatectomy

Here the surgeon makes 5 small incisions in the abdomen. Cameras and surgical instruments are put into the holes to help your surgeon remove the enlarged prostate core that is blocking the urethra. The core is removed through one of the small holes in the abdomen.

Medications
Surgery
Heat therapy to prostate
Embolization of blood vessels to the prostate

Doctors Who Treat BPH

Meet our expert team of doctors who use the latest technology to treat BPH (enlarged prostate).

Timothy G. Wilson, M.D.

Professor and Chair of Urology and Urologic Oncology

Jennifer Linehan, M.D.

Associate Professor of Urology and Urologic Oncology

Przemyslaw W. Twardowski, M.D.

Professor of Medical Oncology and Urologic Oncology

Mehran Movassaghi, M.D., MBA

Assistant Professor Urology

Mark J. Kelly, M.D., MMHC, FACS

Assistant Professor of Urology

Meet Our Team of Urology and Urologic Oncology Experts

In addition to the expert medical care available from our team of cancer physicians, we offer a host of integrative and wellness services that aim to address the physical, emotional, social, mental, and spiritual needs of patients and their loved ones throughout the cancer journey.

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