4 Everyday Incontinence Issues Solved by UroLift Procedures

Once you get into your 40s, the decline in the function of your prostate often begins in earnest. However, you might not always notice the differences in how it functions – or maybe, in truth, you suspect some issues, yet you ignore them.

If you’re in the latter camp, there could be several reasons why. One of which is simple stubbornness. If you’re like many men, you don’t want to share those kinds of health issues with anyone, even with your doctor. Another one is that you’re not aware of the exact symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Finally, you may not have realized that these days, certain minimally invasive BPH treatment options are available with few, if any, adverse side effects, such as loss of sexual function.

At Comprehensive Urology in Los Angeles, we understand your uncertainty regardless of the reason. We specialize in diagnosing, advising, and treating Los Angeles area men who have or are suspected of having an enlarged prostate. We are also dedicated to providing state-of-the-art BPH treatment options, including the innovative UroLift System.

What is a UroLift Procedure?

UroLift is a minimally-invasive BPH treatment for men who have symptoms of an enlarged prostate. The FDA-approved system relieves the obstruction and pressure on your urethra with tiny, permanent implants that not only open your urethra but also hold the enlarged prostate tissue out of the way to allow the urine to pass easily.

Your urethra will be unblocked without any need for cutting, heating, ablating, or removing any of your prostate tissue. Even better – there is no negative impact on your sexual function, making this treatment somewhat unique amongst most BPH therapies.

How Does UroLift Affect Everyday Urination?

If you have the following three everyday issues with urination or urinary incontinence due to issues with your prostate, then you should consider the UroLift BPH treatment system for effective treatment.

Issue #1 Difficulty Starting

If your urethra is blocked by enlarged tissue from your prostate, then you might be experiencing hesitancy to start urinating. There’s not much that’s as embarrassing as turning blue in the face at a public urinal as you strain to start urinating.

Issue #2 Weak Flow

Once you get started, does your urine only dribble out? Do you have to keep pushing and straining to maintain your stream? If the flow of your urine has sufficiently decreased in strength that you wince at how weak it sounds flowing into the toilet, UroLift can make you once again proud to be loud!

Issue #3 Dysuria (Burning or Discomfort With Urination)

This just sounds unpleasant, doesn’t it? And it can certainly be, as it means pain, burning, and discomfort while you urinate, which can cause you to worry that you have serious health problems.

Furthermore, the above issues can also have symptoms related to bladder storage, as well, including having to urinate frequently, waking up several times a night to urinate, or sudden urges to urinate immediately.

Issue #4 Urgency and Urge Incontinence

Another unpleasant and potentially embarrassing problem which may arise with an enlarged prostate is the constant need to look for a restroom, the urge to urinate all the time and difficulty delaying it, with potential for unpleasant “accidents” and urine leakage.

These are some reasons why you should consider talking to your doctor about your urinary issues the advantages of the UroLift system as BPH treatment.

Benefits of UroLift Treatment

There are several types of benefits to this men’s BPH treatment, including both during and after the treatment session.

During the BPH treatment, the benefits are as follows:

• No surgery or cutting
• No burning
• No anesthesia or drugs required
• Can be done in the doctor’s office

Although we often don’t use anesthesia or drugs during this BPH treatment, if you’d like local or even general anesthesia, we can accommodate this for your convenience. We can also administer pain killers and anti-anxiety medication prior to your session, as well.

Following the BPH treatment procedure, here are the benefits you’ll enjoy:

• No overnight stay necessary
• Minimal recovery time
• Continued sexual ability
• Sustained quality of life
• Immediate results

An enlarged prostate can have an adverse effect on the quality of your life. Undergoing just one UroLift BPH treatment can alleviate troublesome urinary problems and embarrassing sexual performance problems related to BPH, with immediately apparent results. Learn more about Urolift at Urolift.com.

Side Effects of UroLift

Because of its minimally invasive nature, the UroLift system has few side effects and the ones that do occur usually recede in one to two weeks as your body adjusts. These UroLift side effects may include:

• Frequent urination
• Mild burning when urinating
• Mild pelvic pain or discomfort
• Urinary urgency and urge incontinence

BPH Questions? Comprehensive Urology Beverly Hills Has the Answers

Men rarely have symptoms of an enlarged prostate before the age of 40, yet by the time you get to your 60s, you might be part of the majority of aging men who do. By the time you’re in your 70s and 80s, you’re almost guaranteed to have those symptoms. Often, we diagnose such prostate issues in our patients during normal rectal exams, though we also find them through a urine flow study, ultrasound, cystoscopy, or urinalysis.

If you are above the age of 40, don’t ignore any symptoms that could mean you have an enlarged prostate. It’s a very common problem that if detected early enough, can be treated and eliminated, allowing you to improve your quality of life. Don’t hesitate to contact the Los Angeles prostate experts in Los Angeles today at Comprehensive Urology for a consultation. Contact us online or call 310.499.2756 to schedule an appointment and get your questions answered.

In a Nutshell: UroLift

• Minimally invasive BPH treatment for unblocking the urethra by holding the enlarged prostate tissue back with small clips to allow better urine flow
• No need for cutting, ablating, burning, or removing any tissue
• No loss of sexual function, almost immediate results, and low risk
• Can be done in office, or under sedation/anesthesia in less than hour

Next, read MRI Fusion Biopsies: The Best Way to Diagnose Prostate Cancer?

The post 4 Everyday Incontinence Issues Solved by UroLift Procedures appeared first on Comprehensive Urology.

MRI Fusion Biopsies: The Best Way to Diagnose Prostate Cancer?

Early detection of prostate cancer is not the only key to surviving the disease with the potential for a cure, but also crucial in preserving the quality of your life. For decades, the standard form of prostate biopsies has had its share of hits and misses when diagnosing for cancer, with close to 20-30% chance of missing the disease. While the successes are certainly something to be grateful for, it’s hard not to lament the failures.

The problem is that traditional methods of diagnosis (blind biopsy or by ultrasound guidance alone) this cancer have may be falsely negative for cancer or report less aggressive cancer while easily missing the real target. This means that nearly one in three American men who undergo a procedure such as a prostatectomy are found to have a tumor that is much more aggressive than determined by their prostate cancer biopsy. At Comprehensive Urology in Los Angeles, we specialize in screening, diagnosing, and treating prostate cancer. One of the most common questions we get is how to find prostate cancer more effectively.

At Comprehensive Urology, we specialize in screening, diagnosing, and treating prostate cancer. One of the most common questions we get is how to find prostate cancer more effectively.

We may have an answer for you: MRI /Ultrasound fusion biopsy.

Standard Prostate Biopsy

Perhaps you’ve read or heard stories of men who’ve had experiences similar to the following example:

A man has a prostate cancer screening blood test that shows high levels of Prostate Specific Antigens (PSA), yet the traditional ultrasound-guided biopsy returned negative for prostate cancer, so he goes about his life relieved that he is cancer-free…

Months or perhaps even a year or two later, the man notices he has problems urinating or starts feeling sharp pains in his side, so he sees his doctor, who diagnoses him with an enlarged prostate and prescribes the requisite medication. Finally, after months of frustration and dissatisfaction with his doctor’s diagnoses, he sees a different urologist, who administers the MRI fusion-guided biopsy.

Imagine the man’s horror at discovering that not only does he have cancer of the prostate, he’s in a fight for his life because it’s at an advanced stage. Had it not been for this precise, targeted prostate biopsy, which found the tumor in an unusual location that the standard cancer biopsy had missed, the man would not have survived his cancer.

This is merely an example, based on a real case, depicting the growing number of patients suffering from similar circumstances.

Traditional prostate biopsies haven’t changed much in the past three to four decades. Unfortunately, neither have the pitfalls associated with them. In a standard prostate biopsy, one or two tissue samples are methodically removed from various zones of your prostate, usually a total of six to 12 samples in all. While this is effective in detecting larger tumors, this regularly misses smaller cancerous areas. This is where your danger lies – and where the controversy surrounding standard biopsy begins.

Once the tissue samples are evaluated, the pathologist can determine the tumor’s level of aggressiveness, which, along with other variables, allows your doctor to recommend the requisite treatment.

MRI Fusion Biopsies: They’re New, But Are They Better?

Just as a standard prostate biopsy may miss smaller tumors, undergoing an MRI alone for detecting the disease may have the same problem.

That’s where the MRI fusion biopsies are different, as the innovative detection methods use sophisticated technology for a more precise, targeted prostate cancer biopsy. Quicker and more comprehensive, MRI fusion biopsies are exactly what the name implies – a combination of MRI and ultrasound technologies that accurately detects the patients’ tumor and precisely extracts a sample for assessment.

One huge benefit over a traditional biopsy is that an MRI fusion-guided biopsy covers the entire prostate (the traditional method covers less than 10%). Previously unseen tumors are now found, and those missed due to being in nearly inaccessible tissue are now easily detected. Learn

How Does a Targeted Prostate Biopsy Work and Improve the Current Biopsy Process?

The procedure is short, minimally invasive, and done under local anesthesia or sedation. Prior to the procedure, an MRI of your prostate is administered for one purpose only – assessing your prostate for potential tumors. Any areas that indicate the presence of a possible tumor are marked and analyzed in a 3-D reconstruction of your prostate that highlights the areas suspected of housing a tumor. During the prostate biopsy itself, ultrasound will “visualize” the prostate with the added MRI images being superimposed in real time.

Because your doctor can perform this targeted prostate biopsy on the areas most suspected of containing a tumor, this can reduce the number of lesions that are missed. This new, innovative technology aims to increase the accuracy of biopsies for prostate cancer as well as reduce the number of procedures needed and the risks of infections.

To be fair, this MRI fusion-guided biopsy is still relatively new, so data is still being gathered to fully gauge the efficacy of the procedure. As such, not every patient undergoes this procedure. However, early returns are promising and the future of prostate cancer screening, assessing, diagnosing, staging, and treatment is trending up.

Learn more about magnetic resonance imaging at Wikipedia.org.

Contact the Prostate Cancer Specialists in LA for World-Class Care

Prostate cancer is certainly curable, but traditional biopsies often miss tumors that are smaller or in uncommon places in your prostate. If you’ve had one or more standard prostate cancer biopsies but are still dissatisfied with the results, contact an expert Los Angeles urologist at Comprehensive Urology by filling out the online contact form or calling 310.499.2756.

In a nutshell: MRI/Ultrasound fusion biopsy of the prostate

• The newest and most accurate way to sample the entire prostate gland for cancer
• Helps decrease missed lesions and “false negative” biopsy results (missing cancer)
• Increases the biopsy yield and detection of more aggressive lesions that would have been missed

Next, read Everything You’ve Wanted to Know about Vaginal Cosmetic Treatments.

The post MRI Fusion Biopsies: The Best Way to Diagnose Prostate Cancer? appeared first on Comprehensive Urology.