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Prostate Artery Embolization for BPH. Anyone have it done?
Men's Health | Last Active: Dec 28, 2025 | Replies (115)Comment receiving replies
Good information. Here’s my question: Just so I’m clear, is an enlarged prostate the reason that it is getting difficult (sometimes very difficult) to urinate with a steady stream? Sometimes I have to strain my stomach muscles 6 or 7 times to try to dribble even very small amounts, sometimes not even close to emptying my bladder. Is PAE a procedure that will help?
Replies to "Good information. Here’s my question: Just so I’m clear, is an enlarged prostate the reason that..."
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@leaddogy2k
As with anything the answer is it depends. Have you had an MRI or a ultrasound of the prostate, and if so what is the size of the prostate?
How long ago was the onset of the difficulty in urination?
My suggestion is to see a good urologist, and get one or both of these done. And then one would have more information to decide what the etiology of your symptoms are.
Now I say a good urologist, as with any profession there are plenty of bad ones out there. That is where you have to do some research on urologists in your area.
What PAE does if it is successful, is shrink the size of the prostate by cutting off the blood supply to the prostate. Of all the options out there for managing an enlarged prostate, it seems to be the best. Side effects if done correctly are minimal, as opposed to the other procedures that to me seem very risky surgeries.
My thought is PAE is a no brainer for those that wish to reduce the size of their prostate.
As far as you condition, there are medications that can help you deal with the retention. I had the opposite, as I had urgency during the day and evening. At the worst I was up 5 or 6 times a night, and during the day had to deal with it also. That was where flomax and Gemtesa came in for me. Gemtesa for day time urgency and Flomax for the evening. And it helped dramatically. Gemtesa however is around 550 a month if you purchase it in the US, if you go to Canada, its 300 for 3 months. That is what I did.
But now I am 17 days post PAE, and in hindsight I am convinced I made the correct decision. I am up now 1 time in the evening, and almost no day time urgency. In another week or so I will try to wean myself from the meds i have been taking to see if the PAE can control it without meds.
Of the list of side effects given pre pae, the only one I had was the frequent urination for the first two days. That was it. No other side effects. The procedure took about 2 hours.
The only risk I feel is the exposure to the DYE from a Pre procedure CT Angiogram, and the exposure to the dye during the PAE procedure. But, I had a comprehensive method for dealing with the dye pre and post procedure. And so far it appears it had little to no effect on my kidneys.