60cc prostate. 2.2 PSA. No median lobe. 78 years old. Excellent health for my age. Had PAE done 2 1/2 days ago in Miami. Went through the left wrist. I was completely awake. No “twilight” sedation that I could tell. The only discomfort was when he injected the dye and my penis got warm for a few seconds. Booked a hotel for 5 nights total, anticipating side effects. In reality, could have gone home the same day. Not one side effect. No pain. No burning. No frequency. No constipation. No nothing! Just urinating normally. 2 1/2 days post op. So the only med I’m taking is the antibiotic. No ibuprofin. No codeine. No bladder spasm medication. No colace. Just took off the wrist bandage. Can hardly see the pinhole entry point. No bruising. This interventional radiologist is a genius-doing such a complex procedure and finishing it with hardly a trace. He has done over 1000 of these procedures and he answers to the name, Dr. Bhatia. The hotel stay is a minor inconvenience considering the extraordinary results at this point in time. Thanks to ProstatePete for his comprehensive review of his procedure with Dr. Bhatia that convinced me to go with him! If anything changes, I will post it here. As of now, 2 1/2 days out, I am elated! I highly recommend this elite interventional radiologist!
I'm really happy that you don't have any side effects and that you decided to go with Dr Bhatia. It'll be interesting to see your follow up MRI in 6 months to see how much your prostate shrunk but if you're urinating better at 2 1/2 days it's already shrinking. My PAE took less than an hour, how long was it for you?
About an hour too. What's nice is when he was finished, he told me everything went very well while I was still on the procedure table. Calmed me down. In at 7AM. Out at 11AM. Zoom appointment in 30 days. Day 3. No side effects. He is really good. A mini-vacation in Miami. Home tomorrow.
I saw a tape from Dr. Isaacson from North Carolina and he said everyone who has PAE has the post-procedure side effects for 3-4 days to 2 weeks-flu-like symptoms, painful and frequent urination, bladder spasms. Meanwhile, 3 1/2 days in, I feel the same as I did pre-op. Walking a mile each day. Great appetite. No pain on urination. No spasms. No increase in frequency. Of course, none of this means the procedure will eventually be a success in alleviating my BPH symptoms within a month or three. But it's a great start!
What is PAE?
Prostate Artery Embolization. Blocking and thus slowing down the blood supply to the prostate arteries by injecting tiny beads into those arteries to hopefully shrink the prostate and help relieve male urinary symptoms. It is the least invasive method used to help relieve BPH symptoms. Basically painless. Other methods? Not so much. More like torture.
The PAE procedure is performed by an interventional radiologist, not a urologist.
One side effect I must mention: I am a little weaker than before the procedure. My wife noticed it when I was walking in Miami. Walking slower. Supposed to be a two week recovery. Otherwise, fine.
howard26683
Thanks for sharing your experience. Are you referring toDr. Shivank Bhatia, MD - Plantation, FL? I thought prostate issue in in domain of Urology so did not realize that an interventional radilogist can help on BPH or prostate issues. I do not what exactly happens in case ofPProstate artery embolization (PAE) and what condotion ( liek prosate size) make a better fit for PAE. Would like to learn from your experience. I also live in south Florida. Thanks.
Yes! Dr. Shivank Bhatia! PAE is a good place to start after medications don't help much. PAE is primarily done by interventional radiologists. I had a cystoscopy with a top rated urologist to test for BPH, and for 2 days I had intense burning during urination. I had to hold onto something as I urinated, it hurt so bad, During and after PAE, no pain at all. During PAE, tiny particles are injected into the left and right prostate arteries to cause blockage of blood supplies to those arteries feeding the prostate. After time, the prostate shrinks and relieves blocking of the urethra, easing BPH symptoms. I highly recommend Dr. Shivank Bhatia. First you need to be tested by a urologist with a cystoscopy to make sure what you have is BPH and not just an overactive bladder. PAE will not help an overactive bladder. Dr. Bhatia does PAE at the Sylvester Cancer Center in Miami, and in Coral Gables too. Good luck!
The warm sensation I felt in my penis, twice, for a few seconds each during the PAE, was due to the beads being injected into the prostate arteries, NOT from the dye. It's now a week post-procedure and those few seconds of warmth is the only discomfort I have felt. Amazing!
Took 9 days to feel my old self again after the procedure. Had a little weakness and unsteadiness, due to the drugs they pumped into me during the procedure. All gone now. No other noticeable side effects. BPH relief should be 2-4 weeks in. Waiting. Hoping.
Correction: The consensus on PAE websites, is that the warm feeling I felt for no more than 5 seconds both times during the PAE procedure, was the injection of the contrast dye, and not the beads
After abstaining since the procedure, finally had some sex yesterday, 12 days in. The goal was really just to see if I could still do it and thankfully, I could! More below.
Okay. Here's the deal. Developed a painful on friction, ulcer on the back of my penis, which I discovered during sex 2 nights ago, but don't know if it's from being manhandled by a nurse pre-procedure when she tried like hell to put a bag on my penis-first one, excruciatingly tight, second one too loose and unbeknownst to me, she catheterized my penis as I was lying there helpless. After the procedure, I hit the ceiling when I saw the catheter, because I never had incontinence and had a hell of a time dissolving the plastic material in order to get the catheter off. The ulcer may have come from those disasters. BUT, on the other hand, a rare side effect of PAE is wandering microbeads causing ulcerations of the penis. I spoke to Dr. Bhatia today and he told me he only had 5-6 such occurrences and it would heal in about 2 weeks. I tried masturbating last night ( 2 nights of sex in a row) and my horniness won out over the ulcer pain from all the rubbing. I tried to avoid the area as much as I could, but it still hurt. What some men will do, eh? I sent the doc a picture and he said it would heal in a few weeks and I could put corticosteroid cream on it. So the mystery is was the nurse responsible or was it a mistake by Dr. Bhatia? I will never know!
Well, Dr. Bhatia requested a photo of the ulcer in question and today he told me that is NOT the kind of ulcer one gets from wandering PAE microparticles. I was relieved to hear that. So zero side effects from a prostate procedure. Practically unheard of. He's a great IR! So, looks like the manhandling by the nursing staff, attempting to fit me with an ill-fitting catheter prior to the procedure, and my difficult attempts to get the damn thing off me after it was over, caused enough friction to give me that ulcer. That particular spot I recall now, is a thin-skinned weakness of mine, and come to think about it, I have tended to get painful blisters/ulcers in that exact spot several times in the past from sandpaper-like abrasion from sexual activity, which is why KY™ was probably invented. Lol.
16 days in. Urine flow a bit better. Nothing to close the banks for. But "sneaky" progress. Still awakening three times at night to urinate-just like before the procedure. Slow starting the flow, same as before the procedure. The doc said the next two weeks should demonstrate noticeable improvement.from BPH symptoms. Dr. Bhatia phoned me twice, concerned about my little ulcer or blister. He told me to put corticosteroid cream on it a few times a day, which I now am. He insisted from my photo that this lesion did NOT come from errant microbeads. How many MDs would call me back once, let alone twice? I had heart surgery(mitral valve repair) last July and had some questions during recovery. Voicemail went completely unanswered: both regarding the surgeon and his nurse. Still waiting a year later. Lol!
4:17 PM, day 16. (Previous post was morning urination at around 7:15 AM.) Urinated very well late this afternoon without that constricted, squeezed feeling. It's only one really good time. We'll see what happens going forward.
Orgasm this evening was fine, more intense than pre-procedure, BUT, looks like I have retrograde ejaculation. Nothing there. At my age, only just a drop or two of semen anyway, pre-procedure, now nothing. So I went from almost no semen to no semen. Not a huge adjustment. 20-40% have retrograde ejaculation, post PAE, depending on the study. Name me a BPH prostate procedure where this is NOT an issue, Those who have a normal volume of ejaculate after any of these prostate procedures are really lucky! So, weigh this as a potentially permanent(?) side effect if thinking about this procedure and you are in your 40's-50's with a nice volume of ejaculate. As stated, the tradeoff is my orgasm was really, really intense!
I just read a post on another PAE thread in which the poster stated that well-known IR Dr. Isaacson said that there's a good chance that semen ejaculate may return over time after a PAE procedure. That would be nice. I have a telehealth visit with Dr. Bhatia in 2 weeks, and I will certainly be asking him about that. Sounds logical that semen is reduced or eliminated due to prostate shrinkage. So, not your typical RE. It also sounds logical that semen would be regenerated after the prostate starts growing again when new arteries take the place of the old ones and begin supplying blood again to the prostate.