My Bipolar TURP Experience

Men's health
21

Hi Frank,

      There are many doctors (worldwide) that perform PAEs. Are you in the US? If yes, there are a few that I could mention.

      There are a couple of discussions on this forum (one longstanding .. over 1400 posts) about PAE. I would recommend reading through those discussions. It wil take a while, but there is an incredible wealth of firts hand information from men who have researched and/or had a PAE. I am currently researching and have pretty much decided on it, and with which doctor.

22

Hi Rich, which doctor, may I ask?  And where is s/he located?

23

Frank,

PAE is performed by interventional radiologists. Many IRs do this procedure. Dr. Sandeep Bagla in the DC area and Dr. Isaacon at UNC in Raleigh are tops on the list for the east. I don't know where you are located but you should contact your local IR department of the medical group that gives you care and speak with them. 

Also, go to YouTube and search for PAE and you will find videos and names of doctors. 

I am with Kaiser and they do all of the procedures including PAE - depends on the location, of course. 

It is my experience that you will get little hlp from your urologist since PAE is not something they do.

Tom

24

See Tom's message.  I have spoken with both Dr Sandeep Bagla and Dr Ari Issacson, and would be more than comfortable going with either of them. I have pretty much decided on Dr Bagla. He's at the Vascular Institute of Virgina in Woodbridge VA, just outside of DC.

25

Bless you, Mark, for your thorough, well-written account of your experience. Yours is one of the best, most helpful posts I have ever come across on this site. I know I have to have some kind of surgery soon and I'm leery as hell about it. Your post makes me a little less so.

26

There are also investigational studies you may be able to enroll in to have the procedure. There were two going on for PAE at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale.  If you search online, you can find a way to search for studies of particular procedures in your area.  Sometimes it's less expensive if you are in a study and it's often the only way to get a newer treatment. 

27

I had some urine retention, meaning my bladder didn't completely empty, but never complete retention (meaning you have to urinate but can't, which requires a trip to the emerbency room for catheterization).  My doctor told me that the TURP surgery should help, but in some cases retention is permanent. Depending on how much urine you retain, you may have to self-catheterize to prevent kidney damage. I haven't had my post-TURP followup yet to see if I am still retaining urine.  I don't know if TURP is better than the other procedures. 

28

I hope everything goes well for you whatever you decide. And thank you very much.  

29

Thanks again Mark,god bless you.keep posting that wonderful info.

30

5 days in hospital. Alot of meds I was told it's gone. Infectious disease specialist told me it didn't make it to my blood stream. Just urinary tract. Time will tell if I am a carrier. Aside from my temperature jumping up and down and the meds blowing out the veins in my arms, it wasn't so bad. The food was great. The nurses are pretty. My blood pressure was down without my meds. Isolation was quiet. Was kinda relaxing. Listened to music on my phone. Watched a Clint Eastwood marathon on tv. Lol

31

Mark Thank you for taking the time.

I have a feeling I am moving like your past and doing research.

32

Hi David, Thanks for all that info. I am almost 87 years old with urine rentention. ive been with a catherer 4 months .,the meds,didn't work.My Dr wants to do a Bipolar Turp. Is the Blood Plasma Turp different? Is it less invasive?

thanks for your info

33

Mark,

I can get the PAE treatment for almost no cost through Kaiser here in Northern California. Any treatment that is given by any doctor in the Kaiser system is done under the umbrella of the insurance policy. 

Tom

34

Thanks for sharing! Very useful!

35

Hi Mark, Thanks for all that great info.One thing i don't understand ,when you were doing test urodynamics,and you had a catheter in, then she asked you to urinate,how could you with a catheter in?I have a foley catheter in 4 months ,changed once a month. i also keep taking avodart and flomax,hoping  this medicine will shrink my prostate.,so far, no, i still have urine rentention.At almost 87 years old

i am still hoping this medicine will shrink my prostate? Do you have any knowledge about this?

thanks very much

36

The Cath they use for urodynamics is very thin. You can urinate around it pretty easily. I had a Foley 3 way after surgery. That's one of the biggest they have. The surger,. In my opinion , didn't hurt at all. The pain I had was that cath. Lol

37

I took finasteride and flomax. It did nothing for me. The flomax I was on over a year. Finasteride 6 months. Didnt shrink prostate a bit. Didnt improve urine flow at all.

38

Hi Waffalobill,Did you have urine rentention,when you had the urodynamics test?

thanks,

39

Yes. They have you show up with full bladder. Give urine sample. Put in cath. Drain out the rest. Fill you back up to the max. Void and measure flow and volume. I only voided a little over half what they put in. I thought I did good. Voided more than I had been at home. They also had me keep a log of how much I drank and when , and how much I voided and when, for 3 days before the test. The numbers sucked. Lol.

40

you are quite right! Neither flomax nor finasteride is useful for prostate adenoma.

if the tumor is not big enough (e. g.  not 5-6 cm or less) very useful vitamin E (E-200 1 tablet a day), red grape vine 50-100 ml a day and physical exercises for the prostate. They make easier to urine during all day. 

In case you tumor is big (more than 6 cm) you need surgery. There are 2 kinds of TURP for larger tumors:

1. monopolar TURP

2. bipolar TURP 

monopolar TURP is for the short time (about 1 hour) surgery because it is done with distilled water meanwhile  bipolar for a long time (about 2 hours) with physiological liquid. I recommend you the second one! With bipolar surgery, 80% of your tumor the surgeon is able to remove! Besides TURP has an advantage. Because the tumor is inside the prostate gland, it is not damaged during the surgery. That means, that probability to restore the function of the prostate gland is very high.