Prostate Artery Embolization (PAE) Procedure
Prostate Surgery Is Not Your Only Option
Are you dealing with the discomfort and inconvenience of an enlarged prostate? Traditional treatments often involve surgery, which can lead to significant side effects like sexual dysfunction, incontinence, or retrograde ejaculation. Thankfully, there’s a less invasive alternative: Prostate Artery Embolization (PAE).
What is PAE? PAE is a minimally invasive vascular procedure that shrinks the enlarged prostate, providing relief from symptoms without the need for surgery. During the procedure, a vascular interventional radiologist, a highly specialized physician, uses imaging guidance to deliver tiny particles to the arteries supplying the prostate. These particles block the blood flow, causing the prostate to shrink over time.
Benefits of PAE:
- Minimally invasive: PAE requires only small incisions, reducing the risk of complications and recovery time.
- No significant side effects: Unlike surgery, PAE typically does not lead to sexual dysfunction, incontinence, or retrograde ejaculation.
- Effective relief: PAE has been shown to significantly improve symptoms associated with an enlarged prostate, such as frequent urination, difficulty urinating, and urinary urgency.
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Prostate Artery Embolization (PAE) is a minimally invasive vascular procedure used to treat Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), a condition that affects men as they age.
Facts About Prostate Artery Embolization (PAE) Procedure
- Quick recovery: Patients often return to normal activities within a few days.
- Low risk of complications: Lower risk of urinary incontinence, retrograde ejaculation, and sexual dysfunction compared to traditional surgeries.
- Preservation of sexual function: Less likely to impact sexual function than other treatments.
- Improved quality of life: Relief from urinary symptoms such as frequent urination, weak urine stream, and difficulty emptying the bladder.
- Outpatient procedure: Often performed on an outpatient basis, reducing hospital stays.
- Less pain: Typically involves less pain and discomfort compared to traditional surgery.
What is Prostate Artery Embolization?
PAE is a beneficial treatment for patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) who experience persistent symptoms like frequent urination and weak urine flow that have not responded well to medications or conservative treatments. It is particularly suited for those seeking a minimally invasive alternative to traditional open surgery like transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), or for individuals who are not ideal candidates for surgery due to health conditions.
It involves the injection of tiny particles into the arteries supplying blood to the prostate, which block off the flow of blood and reduce swelling in the gland. This helps relieve symptoms such as urinary frequency, urgency, and incontinence associated with BPH.
PAE begins with the insertion of a tiny tube, or catheter, in the artery in the wrist or groin. No incision is made. Instead, the catheter is inserted through a pinhole made in the skin, approximately the width of the tip of a pencil. Using specialized X-ray equipment, the physician passes an even smaller flexible catheter into each prostatic artery. Small inert spherical particles are injected into the arteries feeding the enlarged prostate, thereby starving the gland of oxygenated blood and causing it to shrink; this relieves pressure on the urethra and resolves urinary symptoms.
Once treated, the catheters are removed and a Band-Aid® is applied. The entire PAE treatment typically takes less then 60 minutes. Patients return home the same day. After a couple of days’ rest, patients can return to work and resume normal activities.
PAE is a viable option for patients who wish to avoid or delay more invasive procedures, offering a lower risk of complications and a shorter recovery time.
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) Risk Factors
Men with the following factors are more likely to develop benign prostatic hyperplasia:
- Age 40 years and older
- Family history of benign prostatic hyperplasia
- Black and Hispanic
- Medical conditions such as obesity, heart and circulatory disease, and type 2 diabetes
- Erectile dysfunction
- Obesity increases the risk of BPH, while exercise has been shown to lower your risk
If left untreated, BPH can lead to:
- Hematuria (blood in the urine)
- Incontinence
- Kidney Stones
- Infection
- Inability to urinate with damage to the bladder
- Damage to the kidneys