Has anyone out there had a "Prostate Artery Embolization??

Dear terry59461,

Great to hear what you had witnessed on the excellent outcome of PAE treatment procedure. I did witness the same recently in Lisbon as I already presented a detailed account. I was alone alone in a far-away location around 10 hours flying where I had never been before. The PAE procedure is not at all scary. It is almost risk-free compared to the obvious risks and disadvantages expected out of conventional treatments.

Best wishes,

WSAD-1056

 

After 2 weeks of my PAE, I am extremely happy with the results.  My specific concern was urgency.  When I felt that I had to pee, if I didn't within a minute I would be soiling myself.  The procedure has made all the difference.  I have greatly reduced the number of times I need to pee and I am back to normal with urgency.  I have not yet stopped my medication as instructed by the radiologist, I am waiting for a month before doing so, but I fully expect to no longer need the medication.  

Did you have concers about the radiation exposure? I heard its the equivalent of 175 to 200 chest xrays.

Google "Complications After Prostate Artery Embolization" look for Pdf titled 

"Complications After Surgery: Spectrum - GEST 2015"

from University of Sao Paulo Medical School

Excellent info.  Thanks Terry.

Fouad did you contact Dr Isaacson and tell him what was happening? What you are experiencing is NOT normal.

I did. He said wait two months before we make a decision about next step. A TURP may solve the problem that is what he said and a well known Urologist also assured me that TURP may solve the problem. It looks like I got cute prostatis that should be treated before I can get any result. I am gonna wait. What about you ?

Wow sounds very similar to my situation. Did you have these problems before the PAE? I have not had to self cath yet, but getting very close, my bladder will not empty completly and I get up 4 times per night. 

Something tells me you and I are not the only 2 men who have had problems from this procedure. 

I have been told I have 3 options.

A second PAE with a different embolliztion material which might help with the urination problem, but will not help with the pain, or the skin lesions.

A turp which again would probaly help with the urination, but not the other issues.

And finally a complete prostste removal, which would help with both, and totally ruin my life.

Joe,

Yes, similar problems.  I have heard that the reasons PAE fail is becuase the Dr. chooses the wrong artery.  Best to do your research and go with someone who has the most experience.  Definately recomment Dr. Bagla with Vascular Institute of Virginia

That is why I did not want BANDAIDE. I wanted solution for my problem and went with bipolar TURP. PAE sounds like vasting money and filing pockets of radiologists like many here are saying for urologists who are performing TURP. 

As someone who has had one I for one disagree. If PAE is an appropriate treatment for your condition it is the least invasive and easiest recovery of any therapy out there including drugs. There is a tendency on here to describe individual experience as a one size fits all, "it worked for me it will work for you" it is clear to me this is not the case. I'm from the UK so "lining of pockets" is less of an issue but accept in the USA it complicates individual choice when options offered may be offered for reasons other than the best clinical reasons. I can see PAE becoming an early intervention for BPH, before the symptoms start tracking more complicated physiological changes that require interventions that it can't correct. This might mean that for a lot of us that is all that's required but there are always going to be some who also go on to require another procedure to deal with outlier issues. Research is still at an early stage for PAE (I'm part of a study) and other new treatments, so to advocate for one over another is tenuous.

MK, I don't know why you keep calling PAE a "bandaide" solution. I had one 18 months ago and couldn't be happier. I now pee like a horse, no incontinence , no impotence, no retro and better erections so what's not to like? On top of that no cutting or bleeding and very short hospital stay. 

Turp is yesterday's technology. If you want to stick with urologists Holep is a far better option. I have no doubt the urologists are fighting a very determined rear guard action against PAE because their income is threatened by PAE. Personally, I have no time with urologists having had a bad experience with three of them. 

If PAE is a bandaid then TURP is like an amputation. I would NEVER consider a proceedure that had a significant risk of impotence, incontinence and retro ejaculation. 

+1 to caringbah's comments.  I had my PAE three years ago next month (Patient 31 at Southampton Hospital) and couldn't be happier.  I now sleep nine hours without having to get up; it has been life changing.  And no downsides at all.

Hi Roseland

How long it took you to get such super results. Have youhad any problems at the beginning after the PAE procedure. Have ypu been taking medicine after PAE and how long and for what dose. Appreciate your contribution

Fouad

Fouad, for me the improvement was almost immediate. I had urgency and burning for three days but that disappeared after 3 days. From day four on just got better day by day. It was still improving even after 6 months. I had no adverse affects whatsoever and by luck happened to be in the 30% of PAE patients who report improved sexual function. I still get up two three times a night (down from six) but that's only because I am avid tea drinker. I love my tea and have three or four mugs of tea before I go to sleep. Anyone would get up at night if they drank that much. 

From memory, most of the improvement was within the first month.  And I had been getting up 5, 6 or 7 times a night before, so it's been fabulous.

The PAE was done in the morning, and that night I was up every 15 minutes for the bathroom, although amazingly I got back to sleep between each trip.

The next night I had, for only a couple of hours, a temperature and shakes as my body got rid of the dying cells.

For a few weeks it felt as if my prostate was cold, a strange sensation but that's the best I can describe it.  But really nothing unpleasant, no pain or discomfort.

My record for sleeping without getting up since is 11 hours, and I rarely have to get up in a normal 8 hour night; bliss.  Actually the problem before wasn't so much the having to get up, but the fact that I didn't get back to sleep in between as I knew I had to get up again soon.

Before the PAE I tried Tamsulosin and Finasteride, neither of which made any difference.  Since the PAE I've had no PAE-related medication.

Feel free to PM me if you want more info.

Also, no meds afterwards. Doc wanted me to take Flomax for two weeks but I didn't take any.

Cheers. 

Congrats Roseland.

Have you tried to ejaculate soon after the PAE and in what rythem?

One of the complications of my BPH was retrograde ejaculation, which has been greatly improved by the PAE.  As I said, a win all round.  It's nearly three years since my PAE, so I don't remember how quickly it improved, and I think I only had blood in my semen for a few days.

Dear Truth Matters,

Please note that the issue of PAE treatment is not to be contested as such the way you tried to implied this fundamental medical breakthrough as just experimental, which seems rather unfair. The fact that PAE was discovered by 'Interventional Radiologists' than the 'Urologists', has created some noticeable tension between the specialists. There are attempts [as I learnt in the process] by Urologists not to recognize or even to stop the Interventional Radiologists from practicing this breakthrough medical discovery. The latter behaviour cannot at all scientific, instead may seem an envy. Let the Urologists consider this positive discovery and  join hands in nurturing this ground-breaking result to be expanded widely for the benefit of many. Just within a month following my PAE, I have witnessed dramatic promising improvements in almost all symptoms. As I learnt in this fora, many had already witnessed similar improvement like me. The over 6-7 years PAE experiment showed over 80% success without any serious risk of complications and disadvantages of conventional treatment as detailed in scientific articles published in medical journals based on over 6 years experiments. So, the scientific results witnessed can warrant PAE to be fully  considered as a clinical treatment procedure for its wider use and easy accessibility.

Best wishes,

WSAD-1056

You haven't grasped what I was saying, maybe my mistake for not explaining myself clearly. I am not contesting it is experimental, I am contesting that we are not at the point where any method can be considered a panacea. The British National Institute for Care and Health Excellence (NICE) has still not recommended the procedure yet as it is still waiting on clinical studies in the UK (I am part of one) to confirm what is becoming obvious, that the therapy does indeed have the high success rates you quote. NICE exists to test the safety of any clinical advance before making a recommendation. I have little doubt it will do so but it is an indication at least that PAE is not, at least here in the UK, there yet. Evidenced by it not being available as a NHS procedure yet. My main point, however, was not this, my main point is that there are almost certainly some Men presenting with clinical symptoms that not all procedures are capable of dealing with, including PAE, that one or another might just be more appropriate. Anyone who claims x procedure worked for me so it should work for you may well be wrong. 

I repeat, "If PAE is an appropriate treatment for your condition it is the least invasive and easiest recovery of any therapy out there including drugs." I suspect it will become the new "gold standard" for BPH but that other techniques, including current ones, will still remain as solutions for those unfortunate % it is not.

Dear Truth Matters,

Thank you for the important clarification. Please, note that the expression of appreciative testimonials on PAE treatment's highly positive result does not mean all other pre-existing BPH treatments are irrelevant. The argument here is not simple personal subjective opinion. Instead, it is based on scientific result where we will not have much to context. According to the scientific exterimental analysis so far, the PAE result has shown over 80% success on all patients who had undergone the procedure. So, what works for over 80% of the patients with scientific statistical significance can wisely be recommended to others who suffer from similar BPH symptoms . Using your own phrase, the PAE should be approved by the necessary authorities as  a 'gold standard' tretament procedure for BPH based on science. Our tesitimonials are fully wittnessing the science and are not simple subjective opinion. Imagine if you were the one who had undergone PAE and enjoyed its benefits against those scary side-effects of conventional treatments, you will for sure strongly advocate for FAE's speedy approval expansion as one of the best modern breakthrough treatment procedures for BPH. Of course, to meake the procedure to have 100% success [which I doubt if at all achieving 100% was possible in all existing medically approved clinical procedures] the specialists should continue their scientific reasearch alongside. However, the latter should not hinder the need for fast approval of PAE as a valid break-through clinical treatment procedure to enhance its availability and accessibility to many BPH sufferers.

Best wishes,

WSAD-1056

The study I am part of will not finish until the final (12 month follow up) patient has been seen, that should be this December. I've been told that the results should then be available from Spring '17. NICE may well respond before the end of next year and pronounce the procedure "safe". This does not mean that the NHS will immediately recommend the procedure as that is a decision for each NHS Trust to decide upon. As the NHS is driven by cost my money is on it being immediately taken up by all, as it must save a considerable amount on the clinically intensive alternatives and there follow up. If my experience is anything to go by it will literally be a relief to many.

Truthmatters,

Where was your PAE done?  Mine was part of a trial at Southampton, three years ago this month.

I am a patient that is part of the UK wide ROPE (Research On Prosate Emolisation) Study. The procedure was carried out at Colchester Hospital, a little problematic as I live 85 miles away. The procedure was carried out November last. I have had my 6 month check up that included an MRI scan showing an almost 50% reduction, QMax flow significantly better and the best part, nocturia down to once a night. I'm still seeing improvement but at a much slower pace so I am no longer expecting significant improvement from here. If this is it I'm absolutely delighted and after reading some of the terrible horror stories of some of the guys on here, consider myself extraordinarily fortunate.

After 3 years you must have quite an interesting long term view, how are you now? Did you continue to experience any improvement after 6 months or even a year? Have any symptoms of your past returned in any meaningful way?

85 miles - you're lucky!  I live 200 miles from Southampton; I know the Premier Inn there pretty well now!

My prostate was 150ml, and shrunk to 74ml.  Peak flow more than doubled.  Nocturia down from 5, 6 or 7 times down to now most nights sleeping 8 or 9 hours undisturbed.  My record is 11 hours!

My PSA was 10.8µg/l before the PAE and went down to 2.6 a couple of months after.  It's creeping up and is now just under 4.

To be honest I don't remember if I saw further improvement after 6 months; essentially after ten years of problems pre-PAE I've just been ecstatic at the result.  I've had no recurrence of the symptoms.  

I would have travelled 200 miles for those results, even my own. My hope is I won't have to get up atnight at all but I brew my own beer and like the Pub too much for that to ever happen. Having said that the last 3 nights I haven't touched a drop and still had to get up once each night. I think my symptoms went on for longer than yours and have some way to go for the bladder to recover, it may not as thi is one of the downside lack of proper treatment. My theory is that with PAE guys wil have a relatively simple procedure with few if little side effects that will encourage early intervention rather than putting up with for a decade or more before seeking help.

Beer in moderation has no effect; two pints and I still sleep through.  But tea after about 5pm is a different matter...

Hi.I was concerned to know it you were in a cinical trial for PAE. Thank s very much for this info.