Minimally Invasive Prostate Treatments for BPH

As men get older, the prostate tends to cause more problems. The two main issues are prostate cancer and more commonly- BPH. 

BPH causes all those irritating symptoms of slow stream, urgency, frequency, getting up at night, leaking, dribbling and in severe cases, the inability to urinate at all. 

Dr. Shaba is proud to offer many minimally invasive treatments for BPH. Dr. Shaba has been named a Center of Excellence for the Greenlight procedure and Southeast Valley Urology is also a Center of Excellence for the Urolift procedure.

Please remember that every man is different, and every prostate is different. The best procedure for your prostate depends on many factors including your age, health, size and shape of prostate and severity of your symptoms. Dr. Shaba will discuss with you which treatment would be best for your prostate. 

Greenlight Laser Procedure (photovaporization of the prostate)

Dr. Shaba is one of the leading surgeons in the valley for the Greenlight procedure and has been named a Center of Excellence for Greenlight. This procedure is done in under an hour in an outpatient (go home the same day) setting with minimal pain. It has been around for many years and has been proven to be a great option for BPH. Dr. Shaba likes this procedure over some of the others because of its ability to “shave” the prostate as well as a TURP without any hospital stay or many of the risks associated with TURP including bleeding. It tends to be longer lasting than many of the other minimally invasive techniques as well.

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Urolift

As a Center of Excellence for this procedure as well, Southeast Valley Urology offers Urolift as an in office, same day procedure. Many patients use Nitrous gas (laughing gas) or some light anesthesia for this 5–10-minute procedure. Dr. Shaba tends to use this procedure for people who want the most minimally invasive option and usually with smaller prostates. It can be used with bigger prostates or more severe symptoms, but in Dr. Shaba’s experience, sometimes the results don’t last as long as a TURP or Greenlight procedure. The benefits of this procedure are shortest recovery time and minimal or no use of a catheter after the procedure. There is also a lower risk of retrograde ejaculation with this procedure.

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Dr. Shaba also offers:

TURP- transurethral resection of the prostate

TURP is still considered the “gold standard” in the Urology journals for the most complete treatment for BPH. It is still used very commonly today and is a very effective procedure. The main downside is an overnight stay in the hospital. Generally, patients with TURP bleed more initially and usually need to spend a night in the hospital with irrigation running to prevent blockage. Dr. Shaba does many TURP’s per year and selects his patients according to their medical history.

Other treatments for BPH that Dr. Shaba rarely uses:

• Rezum
• Aquablation
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Prostate artery emboliztion

Please ask Dr. Shaba about these for more information

Also see Dr. Shaba’s BPH page for more information