Transurethral Needle Ablation (TUNA) Radio frequency energy can also be conducted through tiny needles, which are inserted directiy into prostate tissue via a special catheter. The needles can riddle the BPH tissue with holes of various sizes to weaken the tissue’s grip on the urethra. Experiments using TUNA in animals have been promising, and clinical [...]
Ultrasound, a painless method of imaging, creates a picture with high-frequency sound waves—like sonar on a submarine. It may be done either from the outside, through the abdomen, or transrectally, via a wand inserted in the rectum. Though not recommended for most men with BPH, it can be valuable in checking for such problems as [...]
About one-third of men with metastatic prostate cancer may be at risk for spinal cord compression—when proliferating cancer cells cause part of the spinal column to collapse, trapping and sometimes crushing nearby nerves. If you have severe pain in your back that accompanies leg weakness, loss of sensation (often beginning with numbness or tingling in [...]
Ultimately, what kills men with advanced prostate cancer are these malignant hormone-insensitive, or androgen-insensitive, cells. And right now, we don’t have any way to stop them. Standard chemotherapy—a host of drugs that work so well in treating other kinds of cancer—doesn’t help, mainly because it’s designed to target cells that are dividing much faster than [...]
It was just a routine physical—until Peter Weaver’s* doctor found a lump in his prostate. “I went in to the doctor’s office sort of full of myself,” recalls Weaver, who was 63 at the time. “I felt in great shape, I was jogging every day, doing some weights, eating well and having a good married [...]