HJAR Jul/Aug 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  JUL / AUG 2020 47 Dr. Timothy C. Goodson is president of the Arkansas Urologic Society, and a member of the American Urological Association. He cur- rently serves on the medical advisory board of the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation, and has been instrumental in bringing new prostate cancer treatments to the central Ar- kansas area. closed, obstructing flow and inspiring the most severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). The UroLift System offers immediate re- lief. It is deployed by a thin guide that travels gently up the urethra to the prostate (un- der general or local anaesthetic, and with the help of cystoscopic visualization). The device implants a suture with a Nitinol tab, a shape memory alloy of nickel and tita- nium that is used in stents (and nontoxic, of course). These implants pin the obstructing lobes back, pinching the prostatic bulge at the point of contact with the urethra, reliev- ing the bottleneck. Typically two to three implants are made against each wall. The procedure is performed in under an hour. 2 The UroLift System doesn’t reverse the hyperplasia (or hypertrophy) or turn back the clock, and because it is a material stent, it is not without side effects, including dis- comfort and the evidence of light bleeding during micturition immediately following the procedure, but these subside within a very short time. Meanwhile, the advantages are many: • Immediate 100 percent effective relief of the most common lower urinary tract symptoms caused by BPH • Minimally invasive, with no cutting, heating, or removing of prostatic tissue • Performed by a urologist in a clinical, not surgical, setting • Patients return home without a cath- eter or other aid • No subsequent pharmaceutical regimen • No sexual side effects, such as erectile dysfunction or retrograde ejaculation The Urolift Systemmight not be right for every man in every case. Many urologists may justifiably advise a course of alpha blockers for BPH, which relax the muscles of the prostate, or 5-alpha reductase inhibi- tors (5-ARIs), which may shrink the actual tissue. Men with very enlarged prostates may be advised to have surgery, up to and including a prostatectomy, or receive a com- bination of drugs. All of these alternatives may carry Timothy Goodson, MD Arkansas Urology significant side effects, and are not without complications. The Urolift System carries no long-term side effects, and better still, it can be done first, or in conjunction with other therapies. Meanwhile, men over 50, or men of any age who believe they are experiencing the symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, should visit www.urolift.com and take the 60-second quiz related to BPH. Find out if what you’re living with may be an enlarged prostate, and whether your symptoms could be characterized as mild, moderate, or se- vere. n REFERENCES 1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC3406744/ 2 https://www.urolift.com/physicians/procedure- device There is a revolutionary new treatment called UroLift that is growing in number and recommendation. It is non-surgical, as minimally invasive as an internal procedure can be, and makes no physical change to the gland through cutting or lasers.