I had the Urolift surgery done about a month ago and so far things are better and I am satisfied with the results. It didn't make me 20 years old again but the procedure was a breeze and it took about 2 weeks for any effect to take place. My brother had laser surgery done a while back and we agree that the results seem darn similar although he ended up overnight in the hospital while I went right home. Time will tell how long either procedure will last.

I've heard mixed reviews on the urolift procedure, so I'll be interested in the longer-term results. Results seem somewhat doctor skill-level dependent.

This procedure did NOT work for me! In fact I eventually had to have the "green light laser" treatment which continues to work fine today. Peter I do hope this works for you. I'm very surprised that you state the procedure was a "breeze." In my opinion the procedure was sheer torture...extremely painful and I HAD to stay overnight in hospital with a catheter due to EXCESS bleeding. Luckily the new Laser Urologist was able to retrieve 5 of the Urolift clips that the 1st inept urologist (he does NOT do the procedure anymore!) put in me...the last one is floating around in there somewhere. I URGE any of you that are contemplating the Urolift procedure to ask the Doctor ALL of the ramifications regarding this including the VERY alarming procedure to put these clips IN you. It was VERY unpleasant. If it had been fully explained to me beforehand I NEVER would have had it done. "Green light laser" is the only way to go as far as I am concerned. I hope this helps somebody...Roger

Roger, I can't understand the pain that you went through. I was under a general anesthesia and I woke up to no pain whatsoever. As another poster said, it seems to be very dependent on the doctors skills, which aligned with what my research bore out. My urologist was a woman and she seemed to know her way around,,, so to speak.

Peter...I did NOT get general anesthesia...mine was done with local only...now I understand why you said it was a breeze...I do not want to go into graphic detail, but my experience was terrible...I will send you a PM regarding my personal experience...obviously since you were "put out" so to speak you did not experience what I did...this doctor never gave me that option...Roger

Doctor skill can be a huge variable in any procedure and sounds like it was here.

__________________
NHI, 10-8.

Wow, sorry to hear that Roger. Doctors do make a difference it seems.

There's a definite technique to placing the Urolift "darts", and the more a urologist does of the procedure, the better they'll be at it. Unlike the other procedures for BPH (the usual cause of all the symptoms that Urolift is approved for, it does nothing to decrease the size of the prostate, which is the primary issue when you can't pee, have to pee frequently, leak, etc. Laser treatment both "heat shrinks" some prostatic tissue as well as removes some, and the gold standard, transurethral resection of the prostate(TURP) removes tissue, which mechanically opens up the urethra and makes more room for the remaining prostate tissue, so it decreases the constriction of too much tissue in too small a space. The one big advantage of Urolift is that it is completely reversible if it doesn't work. I'd rather have something done that has a better chance of working and working well.

By "gold standard" I mean that TURP is what other procedures for BPH are measured against for reduction of symptoms and return to normal urinary function.

I had BPH, took meds for it for two years before they didn't do much any more, then talked to my urologist about surgical options. We looked at laser and Urolift, but I decided to have the TURP. I've not regretted it for a minute. I had the procedure four years ago (I'm 67 now), it was done under spinal anesthesia, and I had an overnight stay, which is usual for TURP to observe for postoperative bleeding. Had a catheter for four days postop, which was probably the worst part of the whole thing. A normal prostate weighs about 30-35 grams, I had 24 grams of mine removed. No adverse effects or loss of function.

FWIW, I was a Surgical RN for 37 years, had seen many, many TURP procedures and was totally comfortable with the idea of having it myself. It has a proven success rate, and some of the newer procedures don't yet have as much statistical data to support them as well.

Had a urolift, what a disaster! Finally saw another urologist , scoped prostate and bladder. Part of urolift was in my bladder instead of prostate. Promptly removed all of urolift and had green laser. Satisfied but wish could have taken 1st so called urologist to court……

Had the TURP and the Urolift. Didn't have any problems with either and both eventually quit working. Back to the nightly bathroom run.

PeterJ, perfect “handle” for a male urology thread.
All joking aside, hope you have a full and speedy recovery.

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213th FBINA

My B.I. L. had the P.A.E procedure and said it worked good for him never heard of it so I looked it up.

Prostatic Artery Embolization | Johns Hopkins Medicine

F.Y.I. Just looking at options, may be headed that way.

I'm 47 and need some work done down there. Yes, I'm quite young to be having issues at this age. (Just my luck. Add it to all my other health issues. Lol). I'm on the meds at the moment but some surgery will need to be done when they stop working. My Urologist said I'm too young to have a TURP due to the higher risk I could lose sexual function. Therefore, he's suggesting the Urolift when the time comes. He never mentioned anything about a laser treatment.

BEFORE you have the Urolift procedure please read my post #3 above...if you decide to get it have your doctor FULLY explain the procedure to you...

The laser treatment is one type of TURP. I had it and am happy with it. My Urologist said that he removed about half of my prostate mass.

73,
Rick

In 2005, I underwent a TUNA procedure (Trans-Urethral Neural Ablation). Is this the green laser mentioned above? It worked fine until the cancer appeared.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

Well, this is timely for me. I am 67, soon to be 68 and have been taking meds for several years. My doc says time to do something and is leaving it up to me. I was leaning to the UroLift, in fact, I just read the brochure this weekend. The other options are the hot steam and TURP.

I asked my doc if he were me, what would he do and he said TURP but because he is a surgeon. From what I have been told, once I get the TURP, its a one and done type deal, should never need anything more done. The Uro only has data for about 5 years but it is good for that time frame.

Admittedly, my biggest fear is the sexual function piece of things. As I understand it, the ejaculate goes up into the bladder after TURP.

I just went through two surgeries; the green light laser to remove the part of the prostate which had me stopped up, and a second surgery to remove stones in my bladder.

I utilized a urology practice shared by 3 doctors/surgeons. One of the doctors did the laser surgery, and a second, the bladder surgery. The one doing the green light specialized in that type of surgery. The younger fellow, who removed my bladder stones, does all the urolift procedures there. I had requested the urolift after hearing of its benefits, but the fellow who did them there didn't want to do it on me, primarily because I had had a number of UTI problems while on the catheter and he said that the staples used might continue to cause infections. He had other concerns also after reviewing my file, but I don't recall what those were.

So that left me with the other two options, the TURP, which they also do there, and the green light. After reading up on both it was clear to me that the green light was less traumatic(not much bleeding, no need for an overnight stay, shorter recovery time as I recall, and so on), and comparable results to the TURP.

I just had a follow up visit with the surgeon yesterday. He was pleased with the results I reported, said the effects were normal and would take some time to go away(bladder doesn't empty completely without pressing on abdomen, urination a little too frequent, and too much urgency). He said that my bladder had been significantly irritated by the years of BPH problems and a lengthy period of using a catheter(another story), and that it would take time to readjust.

For those who are dealing with BPH and the options they have, I would recommend as much reading and research as you have time to do on the various procedures available to you. Having said that, I concede that the choices are many and somewhat bewildering. I was tied up in knots for a good while over it, but I'm satisfied with my decision and now believe it's just one of those things which lacks a foolproof solution.

I also learned during this process that getting one's questions addressed and answered requires some insistence. Don't let the medical people get away with not providing you with the information you need. I understand that they are extremely busy, but with your future in their hands to some degree, they need to make sure you understand what they have planned for you and why. The doctors who did my surgery did very well in this regard, but I often had to go through nurses and other staff to reach them. They are dealing with many patients, and consequently due to the time constraints have to let the nurses and others take care of all the routine and lesser tasks like changing catheters and so on.

I hope that all this is somewhat helpful. Best wishes to all of you who are confronting the issue or will be in the near future.

Regards,
Andy


P.S. Let me know if you have any questions for me and I'll do my best to get back with you when I can -you might try PM if I don't respond on this thread in a reasonable period of time.

I have no problems going, it's just I have to go a LOT. When I'm at work, sitting in a chair, I can go 4 hours or so before I urgently have to go. Laying down, it's about 2-2.5 hours. The only time I can sleep longer is if my back is out. Even if I don't take anything for the back pain, once I fall asleep, I don't have to go for like 7 hours. But as soon as I get up, I have to go NOW. When I got hurt in 2007, I fell as I was hurrying to go at a gas station at about 930PM. After I fell down, I didn't have to go until almost 4 am, and that wasn't all that urgently. I take the Larry King Prostaganix and it does help, a little. But at some point, I think the laser thing is in my future, barring cancer.