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Prostate Artery Embolization for BPH. Anyone have it done?
PAE can be done through wrist or femoral artiry. Usually catheter is not needed. Catheter is for as a marker by some radialogists. I am wondering if it can be done without any sedation? Thanks.
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@scien123
Well, I had it done in February 2022 and after about 11 days I was seeing improvement on a daily basis. Now 4 years into this and it’s like I’m 30 again. I’m 73. It’s not that way for everyone. I have a friend who wasn’t so lucky and another who had great results right out of the gate. It seems to work better with larger prostates.
Good luck!
@bill5letsfixthis no they don't tell you that. My first sign was in recovery when the nurse who was dismissing me kept staying it gets worse before it gets better. My symptoms were already bad but they got much worse that first couple of days, one day thought i was going to get catheterization. My uro does a PAE/ Aquablation combination procedure with the Aqua a few days after. The aquablation was actually a relief and less painful than the PAE when though neither were what I would call painful, more uncomfortable.
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1 Reaction@plynhky I had it done in Las Vegas, at my urologist Dr Lesani's surgery center. They brought in a group that does these many times a year. As my urologist said he is a big fan of PAE, but, you have to have it performed by an interventionist radiologist that does these many times a year, rather then some that only do one or two a year.
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1 Reaction@shark I researched all the alternatives to treat enlarged prostates, and settled on PAE as the least intrusive, with the least side effects. In retrospect, I feel I made the correct decision.
My procedure was a non event. No side effects, with improvement the first month to where my urgency and night time urination were almost gone completely. A big change from having to get up 4 times a night.
Saying that, I tried getting off the meds I was on before the PAE, I did that around the end of month 2. And it appears I did it too early as I needed to start taking them again. That was almost a month ago. I am scheduled for an ultrasound to see the size of the prostate, and also another cystoscopy to try to find out the cause of pain on urination I have had that started immediately after my last cystoscopy almost a year ago.
Every year they refine PAE into a better technique. The big plus to me is the no surgery aspect of it. Going in and reducing the size of the prostate by the different procedures they now have, is much more aggressive then PAE, and subject to more potential side effects.
Lets see how I feel about it in a few more months:)
In prostate cancer, PAE can be used to reduce the size of the gland to be eligible for SBRT (5X tx) form of external beam radiotherapy. About 100cc. seems to be
the cut off for SBRT. (ADT often reduces the prostate by 30%). PAE is performed by interventional radiologists not urologic surgeons.) Incidentally if gland size reduction is the goal it should be noted that Aquablation can accommodate very large prostates. In the past prostatectomy was advised when the size was very
large. If >80 seriously think twice before surgery with a big prostate.
Technology is part 1, Skill of clinician is #2 but equally important. The amount of supervised experience to be 'qualified' varies with the technology.