'Less painful' treatment for enlarged prostates

Men with enlarged prostates can avail of a new, "less painful" treatment, research led by an Indian-origin physician has found.

The researchers treated men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a condition in which the prostate is enlarged but not cancerous.

The new interventional radiology treatment known as prostate artery embolisation (PAE) improved patient symptoms, regardless of the size of BPH,, researchers found in a retrospective study.

"This innovative treatment offers less risk, less pain and less recovery time than traditional surgery, and we are hopeful that further research will confirm it to be an effective therapy for BPH," said lead researcher Sandeep Bagla, interventional radiologist at the Inova Alexandria Hospital in the US.

Bagla and his team examined the cases of 78 patients, who underwent prostate artery embolisation (a way of blocking abnormal blood vessels) for BPH as part of the clinicians' routine practice.

Patients were categorised into three different analysis groups based on the size of the enlarged prostate: less than 50 cubic centimetres, between 50-80 cubic centimetres and greater than 80 cubic centimetres.

The researchers evaluated the effectiveness of PAE in these patients at one, three and six months post treatment.

Ninety-six percent of cases (75 of 78) were considered technically successful, with both blood vessels leading to the enlarged prostate blocked by PAE treatment.

The researchers found improvement in symptoms and quality of life, as measured by the American Urological Association Symptom Index, in all three patient groups.

The findings were presented at the ongoing Society of Interventional Radiology's 40th Annual Scientific Meeting at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.