When a patient approaches the conclusion that Microwave Thermotherapy is the best choice to relieve his symptoms, very often, one of the first questions he asks is “How many treatments will I need and how often will I need them?” He is usually happy to hear that this treatment is never done more than once a year.
Most patients never require more than one treatment although a minority may require repeat treatment. This is similar to the requirements for repeat LASER or TURP surgery due to the recurrent growth of prostate tissue; about a third require retreatment. Prostate glandular tissue continues to grow throughout a man’s life and this may require attention from time to time. It can be thought of as being somewhat similar to the growth of hair on the head, which requires periodic visits to the barber.
It should be remembered that in the majority of cases, whether the patient is treated with a surgical LASER or TURP or with a non-surgical Microwave Thermotherapy treatment, no repeat treatment is required. When, on occasion, it does become necessary to repeat the treatment, how much simpler and easier it is for the patient to repeat the non-surgical, in-office, anesthesia-free, 30-minute treatment where every patient is given the opportunity to go home free of an indwelling catheter. Compare this to what’s involved in a repeat hospitalization and anesthesia for additional surgery.
So if you experience the familiar symptoms of a slow, weak, frequent, urgent, intermittent, hesitant, sleep-interrupting, stream, which leaves you with a dissatisfied feeling of incomplete emptying despite the pushing and straining often required to start and maintain the stream, it’s time to have a urological evaluation, which should include uroflowmetry, post-void residual determination, prostate sonography and possible urodynamic evaluation.
If and when benign prostate enlargement is determined to be the cause of the symptoms, attention then turns to selection of the most appropriate treatment, which in most cases will entail the combined use of two types of drugs; one to shrink the enlarged glandular portion of the prostate and the other to relax the excessive contraction of the muscular tissue of the prostate. This treatment works quite well in most cases although problems may arise, which cause the patient to discontinue the treatment. These problems may include such things as interactions with other drugs the patient requires for other conditions, the gradual loss of effectiveness after an initial success, adverse side effects, such as erectile and ejaculatory dysfunction, painful breast swelling, visual disturbances, allergic reaction to one or both medications, and increasing annoyance with having to obtain and pay for medication for a lifetime.
When these things become intolerable, another type of treatment is needed and Microwave Thermotherapy is the method I have recommended to my patients for the past nine years with great success.
Have Questions? Call Dr. Okun at 718-241-6767
