Studies Give "Greenlight" to Long-Term Efficacy of Prostate Laser Surgery
According to Dr. Benjamin Choi, MD, a leading urologist and GreenLight laser therapy expert with Gramercy Urology Solutions in NYC, "Roughly half of all men over 60 -- and 9 out of 10 men over 80 -- will develop a condition called BPH -- Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland - in their lifetimes. The symptoms of BPH range from frequent, painful, and night time urination to even urinary incontinence to sexual dysfunction. While BPH is not a life-threatening condition, most patients agree that its effects cast a serious and long-lasting pall on their quality of life. Now, new research testing the long-term efficacy of a minimally invasive laser treatment for BPH is providing evidence that the treatment is safe and effective over the long term.
New York, NY (PRWEB) June 25, 2007 -- Roughly half of all men over 60 and 9 out of 10 men over 80 will develop a condition called BPH -- Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland - in their lifetimes. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 6.5 million American men suffer from BPH, whose symptoms range from frequent, painful, and night time urination to even urinary incontinence to sexual dysfunction.
While BPH is not a life-threatening condition, most patients agree that its effects cast a serious and long-lasting pall on their quality of life. Now, new research testing the long-term efficacy of a minimally invasive laser treatment for BPH is providing evidence that the treatment is safe and effective over the long term.
"GreenLight laser therapy (a photoselective vaporization) offers most patients a host of benefits over the traditional surgical procedure for BPH," explains Dr. Benjamin Choi, MD, a leading urologist and GreenLight laser therapy expert with Gramercy Urology Solutions in NYC who has trained more than 200 physicians across the country to perform the procedure. "The current research bears out our earliest findings on GreenLight laser therapy, that it reduces surgical risks while providing excellent results in the vast majority of BPH patients," Dr. Choi notes.
Studies reinforce benefits of GreenLight laser therapy PV --
The prostate is a walnut sized gland located near the urethra, responsible for generating and regulating seminal fluid in men. As it enlarges with age, the prostate can act as a vise around the urethra and create urinary difficulties. When surgery is required to ablate the excess prostate tissue, patients usually have three options. A new GreenLight laser therapy PV (photoselective vaporization) procedure is done by a thin laser fiber that is inserted into the urethra through a cytoscope, and the fiber emits a high-powered laser light beam that specifically targets blood cells, thereby limiting bleeding complications, and actually vaporizes the excess prostate tissue.
Prior to GreenLight laser therapy laser surgery, most surgical BPH patients were forced to choose between open prostatectomy, a fully invasive open surgical procedure, or transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) -- wherein doctors insert an electrified wire loop into the urethra and use it to cut away the enlarged tissue, which then exits the body through the bladder. Both procedures were inherently complicated by very vascular prostate tissue which can bleed profusely during or after surgery.
In several review and clinical studies published since the beginning of the year, GreenLight laser therapy PV laser surgery has been compared to both of these traditional procedures, with positive results. In the March issue of Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases1, for instance, researchers randomized patients to compare results of TURP and GreenLight laser therapy, and found that both procedures were effective at reducing symptoms -- but the GreenLight laser therapy group had far fewer complications.
What's more, in a review published in the January 2007 issue of Current Opinion in Urology2, researchers confirm that the benefits of the procedure are durable for at least 3-5 years. And in research reported in last month's British Journal of Urology3, doctors found that GreenLight laser therapy PV laser surgery is a viable alternative for men with severely enlarged prostates, for whom TURP is often contraindicated, and who otherwise would require open prostatectomies.
Risks and complications of traditional approaches --
According to Dr. Choi, both open prostatectomy and TURP are more invasive than the GreenLight laser therapy PV procedure. He notes, "The same studies that have shown the long-term safety and effectiveness of GreenLight laser therapy PV have also reinforced the elevated risk for complications associated with open prostate surgery (OP) and TURP." For instance, patients undergoing OP or TURP may experience excessive bleeding during or after the surgery, which can lengthen recovery time and increase the need for blood transfusions.
"During the GreenLight laser therapy PV procedure, the laser seals off blood vessels as we work, which decreases the chance of excessive bleeding," Dr. Choi explains. In addition, patients undergoing OP or TURP are much more likely to be at risk for other complications such as urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction and also to require extended catheterization and/or hospitalization -- both of which can increase risks of infection. "The majority of GreenLight laser therapy PV procedures can be safely done as same-day surgeries with little or even some instances with no catheterization required," Dr. Choi notes.
"As urologists, we see an array of medical conditions every day, but BPH is one of the most prevalent and most challenging issues we face, because of its tendency to rob otherwise healthy, active men of their independence and their quality of life," Dr. Choi concludes. "That's why, in the field of medical research, revolutionary advances like GreenLight laser therapy PV laser surgery are so important, because they give patients their lives back without significant complications associated with conventional prostate surgery."
1 Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2007 Mar;10 Suppl 1
2 Curr Opin Urol. 2007 Jan;17(1)
3 BJU Int. 2007 May 19
About Benjamin Choi, MD:
Benjamin Choi, MD, is a leading urologist specializing in disorders of the male and female urinary tract (bladder, ureter, kidney, and urethra) and the male reproductive system. Dr. Choi is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Urology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and an attending urologist at New York Presbysterian Hospital in New York. He completed his internship in surgery at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and residency in urology at James Buchanan Brady Foundation of New York Presbysterian Hospital- Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Dr. Choi is certified by the American Board of Urology. He has extensive basic and clinical research experience and has published in leading medical journals in areas of a novel therapeutic research such as gene therapy. He has written numerous articles in several topics in Urology over the years. His current clinical expertise are in minimally invasive endoscopic urologic surgeries in such as topics including benign prostatic hyperplasia, renal stone, aparoscopic surgery in urologic diseases, out-patient surgery for female stress incontinence, and out-patient no-scalpel vasectomy.
He has numerous achievements and awards including The New York Academy of Medicine Fellow Research Competition, Ferdinand C. Valentine Essay Contest of New York Urology Section, and the 35th Annual Urology Chief Residents Meeting. He is also a member of the American Urological Association, the New York Urologic Society and the Korean American Medical Association.
Dr. Choi was the first physician to perform live ambulatory GreenLight laser therapy laser prostatectomy in New York City. Since 2004 Dr. Choi has trained many physicians in New York City and throughout the country on the Greenlight laser procedure. He serves as Director of BPH services for Gramercy Urology Solutions, PC. Dr. Choi was recently selected for the International GreenLight laser therapy Physicians Panel. This group of eight physicians from around the world has been chosen to develop a universal training technique for the new GreenLight laser therapy HPS prostatectomy.
About Gramercy Urology Solutions:
Gramercy Urology Solutions, PC is an AAAHC Accredited Lithotripsy Center and offers urologists the opportunity to treat their patients in a warm, patient-friendly environment that is often missing in a hospital-based setting. The state-of-the-art facility is equipped with the latest equipment for the treatment of kidney stones and prostate disease. www.gramercyus.com.
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