Cost of Prostate operations in UK

Sorry, forgot to ask if anyone has actually paid for it in the UK and how much it cost in total. Thanks.

First, TURP and PAE are performed by different specialties. TURP (aka roto rooter) is performed by urologists. PAE (prostatic artery embolization) is performed by an Interventional Radiologist. In the US, both are covered by insurance. Each specialty will deride the other, and the other's procedure. PAE, however is the less invasive and presents the least side effects. It is an outpatient procedure and you will leave without a catheter. Improvements will slowly happen as the hyperplasic tissue dies off. This should be complete in six months. All sexual function is retained in 95% of cases.

TURP will require a foley catheter for a minimum of 3 days, up to a month. RE (retrograde ejaculation) is a certainty. ED is likely.

Be sure to let the doctor performing the cataract surgery know that you have been taking alpha blockers (particularly tamsulosin). There is a chance that you have floppy iris syndrome and they need to know because they have to take additional steps during the surgery.

PAE, Urolift, and TURP are all available for free on the NHS in the UK. If you want a particular treatment you need to ask your doctor to refer you to the hospital/consultant that performs that procedure. From my referral it took about 10 months to get a Urolift but that was only because there was a cancellation come up. If you want faster service, you have to go private. I would think around £4500 to £6000 for a PAE done privately which is why some people have travelled to Lisbon (there's a good PAE doc there apparently) which works out cheaper even with travel costs.

Note: its not just the procedure you have to pay for its the consultations, cystoscopy's, MRI's whatever. Mine were all NHS. Unfortunately in my case the cystoscopy was not performed by the urologist and the report was inaccurate and had mistakes so we did not have a proper picture before my op. Cystoscopy report said no median lobe and bladder neck normal. The trans-rectal MRI showed I did have a median lobe. The Uro (after my op) said the median lobe was pushing up on the bladder neck and shutting it off but by the time he figured that out I was already anaethetised for the Urolift so he went ahead with that. I would ideally have liked to have considered my options having known what the problem was.

The point is that if you pay privately, you will probably get the Uro do everything himself rather than underlings.

That should probably have been trans-rectal ultrasound

I am eleven days into post HOLEP procedure. For me the motivation was to protect my kidneys due to acute retention. (1.2 litres) and to get off Tamsulosin 400. Prostate in my case 88gm. So far minimal bleeding, no ED problems, no incontinence just a little discomfort rather than pain. Yes, I now have RE but I had that anyway with the Tamsulosin and at 74 I am not trying for a family! Orgasms so far OK. I went privately and paid around £6000 all in. This was the best procedure for me and I did not undertake the decision lightly having researched my options for around two years. A random renal blood test was the trigger for me to do something as my kidneys were under severe stress. Any longer and I might have gone along the path to dialysis. As I say, it worked for me and so far with almost no adverse after effects other than I can now void 500ml in seconds. Result! If you PM me I can let you know the name of the consultant.