Men in the greater New York area now have a new, minimally invasive in-office treatment option for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), an enlarged prostate that can cause various difficulties in urinating, among other symptoms. Jeffrey T. Schiff, MD, an attending urologist at NYU Winthrop Hospital, has completed the first in-office Urolift® on Long Island under local anesthesia. The UroLift® System is the first permanent implant to treat symptoms due to BPH in men 50 years of age or older. Cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2013, the UroLift® System is designed to relieve symptoms caused by an enlarged prostate, while preserving sexual function.
“NYU Winthrop Hospital is committed to providing patients with the highest quality, most effective options to address their health and urology needs,” said Dr. Schiff. “The UroLift® System has an excellent safety profile and provides men suffering from an enlarged prostate a beneficial first-line treatment alternative to drug therapy or more invasive surgery. Importantly, the UroLift® System provides fast and meaningful relief from BPH symptoms, improving overall quality of life for our patients.”
The prostate, a gland that sits below the bladder in men, can become enlarged as men age, restricting or blocking urine flow. More than 500 million aging men worldwide have an enlarged prostate. Some cases are milder than others, and more serious instances of BPH can significantly impact quality of life and lead to urinary incontinence, kidney or bladder damage, and other issues.
The UroLift® System permanent implants, delivered during a minimally invasive procedure, act like window curtain tie-backs to hold the lobes of an enlarged prostate open. Patients recover from the procedure quickly, and return to their normal routines with minimal downtime.
“UroLift® is a procedure in which we essentially ‘pull back the curtains’ of the obstructive tissue without resecting it,” said Dr. Schiff. “It’s akin to the function of a belt and suspenders in that it holds the tissue in place, out of the way of the urinary tract. There are no associated reports of erectile dysfunction or retrograde ejaculation associated with UroLift®, which is quite different from the significant incidence rates of such complications linked to other treatments for obstructive prostate tissue.”
For one Westbury resident, Richard Farkas, 67, the UroLift® procedure relieved him of his frequent nocturnal urination due to an enlarged prostate. Farkas was getting up to go to the bathroom four or five times a night and chose the UroLift® procedure because it was noninvasive and did not require a hospitalization or prolonged recovery. In fact, upon Dr. Schiff performing the procedure on him in November 2016, Farkas was out playing golf the next day. He no longer relies on drugs, which decreased his sexual function, to control his symptoms, which are now much more manageable.
“This is a major advancement in treating BPH, and we encourage men with an enlarged prostate to explore this revolutionary, minimally invasive procedure as a way to provide relief from chronic symptoms that interfere with their daily lives,” said Dr. Schiff.
About UroLift
The UroLift® System provides an alternative to tissue removing surgery for the treatment of an enlarged prostate. Performed through the urethra, a urologist uses the UroLift® System to push aside the obstructive prostate lobes and positions small, tailored permanent UroLift® implants to hold the prostate lobes in the retracted position. This opens the urethra while leaving the prostate intact. Adverse reactions associated with UroLift® System treatment were comparable to other minimally invasive surgical therapies as well as standard cystoscopy. The most common adverse events reported during the study included pain or burning with urination, blood in the urine, pelvic pain, urgent need to urinate, and the inability to control urine because of an urgent need to urinate. Most symptoms were mild to moderate in severity and resolved within two to four weeks after the procedure.
