Before Cancer Radiation, PAE Treatment for Prostate Enlargement Can Help

If you have an enlarged prostate because of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), your condition is not cancerous. However, if you have prostate cancer, your prostate may still be enlarged, causing the same disruptive lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) that men with BPH experience. For that reason, Moffitt Cancer Center experts reveal that having PAE treatment for prostate enlargement before you have radiation for prostate cancer may ease your experience.

What is Prostate Artery Embolization?

Prostatic artery embolization, or PAE, is a medical procedure that reduces blood flow to the artery feeding your prostate. Performed non-surgically, this procedure involves depositing embolic materials in your artery. And our interventional radiologists are able to deposit them there through a catheter that' guided into place by x-ray imaging.

Now, for men with BPH, undergoing PAE treatment for prostate enlargement can provide fast relief from symptoms such as urinary urgency and waking in the night to pass urine. Better yet, it provides relief without the need for surgery or overnight hospital stays, all with a far lower risk of sexual side effects or other serious complications. And now, it turns out that men with prostate cancer may also benefit from undergoing PAE treatment prior to beginning radiation therapy.

Before Cancer Therapy, Consider PAE Treatment for Prostate Prior

Interventional radiologist Dr. Nainesh Parikh, assistant chief medical officer at Moffitt Cancer Center, says patients who have PAE before undergoing radiation for prostate cancer could shorten the course of their treatment. Plus, their LUTS symptoms should improve while their prostate size reduces, potentially reducing the number of radiation treatments needed. He also expressed to the BackTable Podcast that, in the future, men receiving other forms of treatment for prostate cancer, along with men experiencing prostatitis or chronic pelvic pain after radiation therapy, may also benefit from PAE.

Choosing PAE in Georgia

If you have BPH or prostate cancer, you can choose this medical procedure for symptom relief and to non-surgically shrink your prostate. Want to see if you're a candidate for PAE? Click here to request an appointment at the Georgia Prostate Institute today!