Tiny beads to end those wee small hours trips to the loo
MEN with prostate problems may see an end to disruptive night-time visits to the bathroom thanks to intravenous infusions containing tiny plastic beads.
About 40 per cent of men aged 75 and over have a reduced bladder capacity, commonly a result of an enlarged prostate – a gland in men that sits below the bladder, and around the urethra.
The new treatment involves a solution containing the minute beads being injected into the arteries supplying the gland. The beads shrink the prostate and alleviate pressure on the bladder
All patients in trials outside the UK reported improvements after the bead-injection therapy, and initial research indicates that for some men it may be as effective as surgery.
The first 200 British patients have had the minimally invasive therapy as part of a UK trial and the results show no serious complications, incontinence or impotence.
Lower urinary tract symptom (LUTS) is estimated to affect about 3.2million men in the UK and is usually caused by abnormalities of the prostate, urethra or bladder. The most common benign cause is an enlarged prostate, where the gland puts pressure on the bladder and urethra, the tube through which urine passes.
Symptoms can include a frequent need to urinate, especially at night, difficulty in passing urine, and problems with emptying the bladder. Men who do not respond to medication may be offered a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), a surgical procedure that involves cutting away a section of the prostate to reduce pressure on the urethra.
Although the operation is widely performed, there is a five per cent risk of diminished sexual performance and temporary incontinence.
The new operation is a type of artery embolisation, a procedure commonly used to treat uterine fibroids, a common gynaecological growth.
A solution containing hundreds of microbeads is loaded into a catheter and inserted through an incision in an artery in the groin under local anaesthetic. It is then navigated to the arteries that supply the prostate.
Once in position, the cluster of beads cuts the blood supply and nutrients to the prostate, causing it to shrink.
New research from China shows that artery embolisation can be highly effective for LUTS. In a Chinese study, most men treated this way halved the number of their night-time bathroom visits.
The procedure is available privately from £4,000. Dr Nigel Hacking of Southampton University Hospitals, NHS Trust, who has led the UK studies, said: ‘We have an interim report coming out which will show that the complication rate is low, with no new incontinence, nor erectile dysfunction.’