Prostate Artery Embolization (PAE) with Prostate cancer

Aquablation works well with transition area lesions. I think a Dr. Helfand in the Chicago area: Northwest Hospitals. Initially only allowed for BPH it may be approved for Pc now or both diagnoses required?

Yes I had PAE done 10/17/23 because it was the least aggressive and had promising results they told me similar to TURP. It did help for a while . Maximum benefit was seen at about 3 months but still had to use flomax. My prostate size was around 80. It did help it shrink to the mid 50s. After 6 months they want to take a MRI to determine the size and that’s when they picked up the prostate cancer. Began extensive research and visits to many doctors and settled on cyberknife. Also had to take Orgovyx for 3 months before and 3 months after the procedure which also shrunk the prostate. As a precaution I doubled up on the flomax a few days before the radiation as I didn’t want any problems urinating after. All went well but Im still taking 1 flomax a day which is fine and I’m urinating ok and very happy deciding on cyberknife. As for the prostox test which I would have had it done but it’s not approved in NY it might have changed my opinion if it came back that I wasn’t a good candidate. The most important part of the entire process is in my opinion is finding the best doctor at a high volume hospital that you feel very confident with and feel a connection. I found that doctor at NYU Langone with Dr Jonathan Haas. Look him up and see the YouTube videos with him. I used Dr Fishman at Mount Sinai for the PAE also on YouTube. I wish you much success in this process.

vorable for

Thank you so much. It gave us a bit of hope before his procedure. We talked with the IR on Monday when my husband had his PAE. He said he goes into the right and left branches on prostate, sometimes it does shrink it, sometimes it can kill it…but that they do not pinpoint the area of PC specifically. The procedure went really well. The Dr was satisfied that it would decrease his prostate size. Then we just continue with AS as Moffitt suggests. He’s looking forward to being off the finesteride and Rappaflo. Thanks again!

Is it.normal to urinate alot after PAE surgery? I am going about every 5 minutesfor the last 14 hours or so. I have even stopped drinking and still i am up.

@btm7

Did they give you phenazopyridine (like Azo usually a red pill, changes color of pee) and ciprofloxacin (antibiotic)? I think I took those for a week. If not call in for them.

@bjroc This is interesting. I don’t know why hospitals don’t look closer at using supplements early on in diagnosis’s. Does anyone know who I can contact to help with what and how much to take? Is there a Dr of some kind that can regulate and prescribe doses.

@ucfron @wingnut

When it comes to supplements, most work will be your own. NIH had the office of alternative medicine, at one time anyway back some decades, which mostly got closed the last 20 years till now they just make a few pamphlets. Something along the lines of an "NIH complimentary medicine institute" would be needed, and well it doesn't exist.

My primary care did regular medicine for a few decades but switched to "holistic" primary care and charges outside medicare coding for help in these areas. You can find some other doctors like that. But and I will say one has to be very careful. In the prostate there is too much focus on 5-alpha reductase inhibitors and these are available as prescriptions (dutasteride and finasteride) and the prescriptions work better than OTC products aimed at the same method of action.

So one is left to look on their own, and if you are looking for anti-cancer properties well just know that 5-alpha reductase inhibitors don't do that as an endpoint. So that eliminates much of what is sold for prostates OTC or prescription. I focused a lot on going around the 5-alpha reductase inhibitors trap that most supplement sellers focus on in prostate supplements, plus what I could easily take and not negatively impact my liver enzymes and so on. So I do a lot on my own, and if interested learning on your own then realize most things sold are just 5-alpha reductase inhibitors which you are better off getting a prescription for one if that is the method of action you want.

So anyway that is how I worked it, but others also found what I found, most of these things work on Gleason 3 but they have a harder time working on Gleason 4 cells. Maybe if an "NIH complimentary medicine institute" studied and gave grants for effects on Gleason 4 cells we could get somewhere with supplements and PCa but you won't find that just yet. The future has these possibilities but no time soon anyway.

So mostly one is on their own is the long and short of that, but watch the liver for negative impacts, tell all your doctors what you take, and if you have any holistic doctor in your area it might help.

Anyone considering using supplements might consider getting a subscription to CONSUMERLAB. It has been giving good advice for 20 some years. It is run by an MD who verifies the contents. There is no product advertising. I found out that the cinnamon product I used was dangerously high in lead,

My history is rather interesting:
After frequent urination in the evening and urine urgency at times during the day, my family Doctor did an ultrasound, which showed an enlarged prostate, 71m and several areas that appeared to be lesions obstructing the bladder. They referred me for an MRI, but unfortunately it was done on a 1.2 T MRI, which is not the appropriate method for an MRI of the prostate. 1.5 T is the minimum with 3.0 T the preferred. But because I had a linx procedure done 5 years ago for reflux, I was limited to a 1.5T
The results came back indicating granularity in the reading but still came up with a Pirad 4 finding on one of the lesions. My urologist at the time said that since it was done on a 1.2T , you can throw the results in the trash, in so many words:)

After doing quite a bit of research, I switched to a different urologist. Who also did not suggest I have a biopsy or a repeat MRI, but started me on Gemtesa, Flomax, and Dutasteride, which I have been on for about 3 months now. My symptoms have improved dramatically from 5 times a night to 1 or at most 2. Daytime urgency is almost non existent. Now as to Gemtesa, cost in the US is 550 a month and not covered under most insurance. But in Canada you can get it rather easily for 300 for a 3 month supply, which I did. My Dr had no problem with me doing it that way.

I also convinced my Dr to do a biopsy of the prostate. I was not prone to ignore the pirad 4 finding, and he did a saturation biopsy, that is very comprehensive that came up benign on all samples. But before that I was waiting the results of a MYPROSTATESCORE 2 test, and I got back after the biopsy results, that indicated I had a 98% chance of having prostate cancer.

Confusing to say the least. So, I have two issues to deal with, my bph, and the possibility of prostate cancer.

At 78, more then likely I will just do active surveillance if it is concluded I have it. But in the meantime I have decided to go with Dr. Meakins metobolic protocal under his supervision, as a prophylactic and general overall metobolic health approach. I just am starting that now.

As to BPH I have chosen PAE as the best solution. My urologist agreed with me, and said he was a big fan of PAE, he is the best urologist in the las vegas area, by far. So that is scheduled for 11/14.

The other options for controlling BPH seem to me to be rather crude, and fraught with potential complications. While PAE if done by an IR who does a substantial number of these a year, seemed to be the one with the least amount of complications. And had good results for many.

Dr Meakins protocol is a stretch, but I am one to try out things that are logic based. He has a substantial following and many have used his approach for many stages of cancer with success.