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GreenLight™ PVP Laser System Treating BPH What Treatments Are Available? When symptoms begin to interfere with your lifestyle, it's time to consider treatment choices. Understanding your options, including the effectiveness of each treatment and the level of risk involved, will help you make the right choice for your desired outcome and lifestyle needs. Discuss this information with Dr. Iseri. PVP using the GreenLight™ laser system Before the PVP laser procedure using the GreenLight™ laser system, patients were forced to choose between an effective yet invasive surgical treatment and heat therapies that were safer but less effective.
Other Treatments Medication Medical therapy is usually the first line of defense against enlarged prostate symptoms. Medications are costly, must be taken every day for the rest of your life and may stop working over time. Side effects can include impotence, retrograde ejaculation, dizziness, headaches, fatigue and loss of sexual drive. Heat Therapies Heat or thermal therapies rely on different energy sources to heat and destroy prostate tissue. The destroyed tissue is left in the body and is expelled over time. This results in an incomplete reduction of tissue and prostate swelling that causes increased urinary symptoms for several weeks to months. You may need to wear a catheter for a few days or several weeks. Common heat treatments include: transurethral microwave thermal therapy (TUMT), transurethral needle ablation (TUNA®) and interstitial laser coagulation (ILC). These treatments are not always effective in relieving urinary symptoms or restoring good urine flow, and symptoms may return after a year or two. Side effects of heat therapies may include pain and irritation during urination, urinary tract infections, incontinence, urinary retention, impotence and retrograde ejaculation. Invasive Surgery Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP) is known as the "gold standard" of treatment. Enlarged prostate tissue is removed surgically resulting in symptom relief and restored urine flow.TURP is an invasive surgical procedure. There is a greater risk of complications, including excessive blood loss, blood transfusion, incontinence, impotence, infection, painful urination and a high rate of retrograde ejaculation. TURP requires a 1-4 day hospital stay and 1-3 days wearing a catheter. Recovery time averages 4-6 weeks. Older Laser Technologies Older laser technologies attempt to treat enlarged prostate. These lasers use heat to destroy but not remove tissue. The destroyed tissue is left in the body and is expelled over time, causing urinary pain and discomfort for several weeks. Only Laserscope's GreenLight™ laser system uses a patented green light laser to vaporize and remove tissue, leaving a wide open channel for urine to pass through. Results and relief are rapid. Recovery is usually quick and comfortable. Ask for the PVP procedure using the GreenLight™ laser system. The information on this page is reproduced by kind permission of www.laserscope.com
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