“It’s like having a prostate operation but “without” the operation.” That’s the way many patients, who had experienced the TherMatrx microwave thermotherapy treatment of their enlarged and symptomatic prostates expressed themselves. They had been prepared to undergo surgery in the hospital with anesthesia as treatment and were fully aware of the surgical risks and the need to wear a catheter after the operation. The microwave treatment made all that unnecessary.
There is still a need for prostate surgery for the benignly enlarged and symptomatic prostate for which microwave therapy is unsuitable. As an example, men with very large benign prostates, whose measured size exceeds 100 cm3, are not considered good candidates for this minimally invasive procedure.
However, the great majority of patients who are suffering with any combinations of the typical symptoms of a weak stream, pushing, frequency, incomplete emptying, intermittent flow, urgency and sleep interruption will have prostates less than 100 cm3 in size and will most often be excellent candidates for microwave thermotherapy. Of course, before any surgical procedure, whether TURP or LASER and before any minimally invasive procedure, such as microwave thermotherapy is used, patients should be given the opportunity to benefit by using medical treatment usually consisting of a combination of two drugs: one to shrink the glandular portion of the prostate and another to relax the muscles in the prostate.
Some patients are happy and satisfied to continue these drugs for a lifetime or as long as they remain effective and not causing any adverse side effects or drug interactions with other medications the patient may require. About half wish to stop the medications because of such side effects as erectile dysfunction, interference with orgasm and ejaculation, painful breast swelling, blurring of vision and tiredness. For these men, TherMatrx microwave thermotherapy offers an excellent alternative to surgery without all of surgery’s associated risks and hazards.
When prostate surgery is performed, whether by an open surgical operation, TURP or LASER, the neck of the bladder is opened to permit the free flow of urine out of the bladder. However, the consequence of leaving the bladder neck open is that thereafter, during sexual activity, at the time of orgasm and ejaculation, when the bladder neck normally contracts, it cannot. Forceful spasmodic contractions of the pelvic muscles increase the pressure on the ejaculate within the prostatic urethra and like any fluid; it takes the path of least resistance, back up through the open bladder neck into the bladder. There it mixes with urine and awaits the next urination to leave the body. This process by which semen goes in a reverse direction on orgasm is called “retrograde ejaculation.” This does not happen as a result of microwave thermotherapy. That is why so many men consider the microwave treatment to be like having a prostate operation but “without” the operation.
Question? Call Dr. Okun at 718-241-6767
