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Health Matters: Providence St. Joseph Hospital | 7 W ith a new treatment for the common condition of enlarged prostate—benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)—we are changing the trajectory of the condition for the better. Enlarged prostate can be simply annoying at first, but it can also cause significant health problems such as kidney and bladder damage, bladder stones and incontinence. About half of men in their fifties suffer from BPH. In the past, men had to either tolerate symptoms, which include urgent urination and poor flow, use medication that can cause sexual side effects, or undergo surgery that also can lead to urinary and sexual side effects. "TURP (transurethral resection of the prostate) has been the gold standard for treating BPH," says Matthew Greenberger, MD, a urologist at Providence St. Joseph Hospital. "With TURP, you use a camera and shave excess tissue. There has been constant evaluation of procedures with fewer complications and less recovery time. Unfortunately, they came at a cost of less success." Until now. Dr. Greenberger is one of the few physicians who have performed a new therapy called Aquablation, a state-of-the-art robotic procedure to treat men with BPH. The name is a combination of aqua and ablation, which means "removal." "We make a 3D map of the area, put the patient under, then remove the tissue under precise computer robotic control, blasting the tissue with high-pressure jets of water," explains Dr. Greenberger. "It's heat-free, so it causes no damage to adjacent tissue, and the procedure takes 8 to 10 minutes, as opposed to an hour for TURP." And, he adds, "finally urologists have a way to treat prostates that are very large." "I've actually been surprised how great the guys look the next day," Dr. Greenberger raves. "Aquablation is so much less invasive. The only downside is they leave the hospital with a catheter in place." AN AQUABLATION SUCCESS STORY Rodney Dreier can attest. "I had been seeing Dr. Greenberger every six months," says Dreier, "as my prostate got bigger and bigger. I was on medication to keep it under control. I probably would have just kept doing that, but I was playing pickleball with my wife and slipped and fell. I hit my arm and my kidney—it knocked the air out of me—and when I got home I had blood in my urine. I knew I had to go see Dr. Greenberger." "Big prostates bleed sometimes," says the doctor. "The fall may or may not have had anything to do with it." Dr. Greenberger told Dreier he had to have surgery and let him know about Aquablation. "And, believe me, I was tired of not being able to go to the bathroom, so a few days with a catheter wasn't going to kill me," Dreier says. He went in on a Thursday and home on Friday. "With almost no pain. It was amazing," he adds. "Aquablation is certainly the next big thing," says Dr. Greenberger. "It opens the option of endoscopic surgery for men with very large enlarged prostate, and the elderly who would not do well with traditional surgery." For referral information, please email Heidi.Daniel@stjoe.org or call 714-771-8298. Kimberly Pham Photography Water Works Doctors at Providence St. Joseph are performing Aquablation, a new prostate treatment, and patients are very happy with the results. Dr. Matthew Greenberger

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