78: Using Water Power to Treat Benign Enlargement of the Prostate – Dean Elterman, MD

Today, we are bringing Episode 30 back out of the vault for an encore. 

The way that men can be helped to overcome the symptoms of an enlarged prostate continues to transform with minimally invasive surgical techniques. We are excited to bring back our conversation with urologist, Dr. Dean Elterman today. He will bring you up to speed with aquablation and explain how water power can be used to help men with the symptoms of an enlarged prostate. Stay tuned for more!

Dr. Elterman completed residency training in urologic surgery at the University of Toronto. He then completed a fellowship in Voiding Dysfunction, Neuro-Urology, Female Urology, and Pelvic Reconstruction at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. He has worked in the area of men’s health and survivorship at the Iris Cantor Men’s Health Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College and the University of Toronto. He is the Medical Director of the Prostate Cancer Rehabilitation Clinic at Princess Margaret Hospital Cancer Centre. Dr. Elterman is a true innovator in men’s health and continues to embrace the integration of minimally invasive surgical therapies in the management of an enlarged prostate. Be sure to listen in today to find out how water can be used for the treatment of enlarged prostate.

We have taken a short break from recording any new interviews for the podcast until Season 3 arrives. We continue circling back to bring some of the more popular episodes back out of the vault. As we get closer to Season 3, Dr. Pohlman continues working behind the scenes to line up some tremendous guests for the show. 

Over the last month, Dr. Pohlman has enjoyed getting to know the new members of the Prostate Health Academy following the founding members' launch. The Prostate Health Academy is now open to the public, so if you have any questions about the Academy and how it can benefit you in your prostate journey, feel free to email Dr. Pohlman at [email protected].

Disclaimer: The Prostate Health Podcast is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this podcast should be construed as medical advice. By listening to the podcast, no physician-patient relationship has been formed. For more information and counseling, you must contact your personal physician or urologist with questions about your unique situation. 

Show highlights:

• Dr. Elterman explains how commonly men suffer from BPH, or enlargement of the prostate.
• Some of the symptoms of an enlarged prostate.
• Dr. Elterman explains how an enlarged prostate affects a man’s quality of life.
• The long-term impact that an enlarged prostate can have on a man’s bladder health.Some of the minimally invasive therapies that Dr. Elterman is currently utilizing in his practice.
• Dr. Elterman explains how unique aquablation technology works.
• What sets aquablation apart from the other therapies for an enlarged prostate.
• Some of the history and background of aquablation therapy.
• Dr. Elterman describes the appropriate candidate for aquablation therapy.
• Aquablation therapy works well for preserving men’s sexual function.
• The short time it takes to perform the aquablation procedure sets it apart from other therapies.
• Some more advantages of aquablation therapy.
• What men can expect from the aquablation procedure in terms of pain and recovery time.
• How quickly men can expect to see an improvement after having aquablation therapy.
• The potential risks of the aquablation procedure.
  
  

SPECIAL NOTE: One of the benefits Dr. Pohlman has gained from running this podcast is that it has challenged him to make sure that he is staying up on the latest technology available for prostate health and incorporating many of those new technologies into his clinical practice. His practice has been an early adopter of several new options for men. That has allowed his group to be one of the first in the region to offer many of them. 

After airing Episode 30 about aquablation, Dr. Pohlman has continued to research the feasibility of bringing that technology to his practice to add it to his range of BPH options. He feels that aquablation will have a role in treating a subset of men with BPH. The men that will best benefit from this option might remain a moving target as Dr. Pohlman becomes more comfortable with the technology. 

Dr. Pohlman feels that aquablation may be an option for many patients with very large prostates, who might not be the best candidates for the MIST therapies, including UroLift, Rezum, and Turp, which are currently being treated with robotic simple prostatectomy. While, for many of these men, it may take the place of simple robotic prostatectomy, Dr. Pohlman is not sure that robotic simple prostatectomy will go away completely, and some of those men will still benefit from that option, especially those with very large prostates or very large bladder stones as well as very large prostates that can currently be treated at the same time. 

We will circle back again a year from now with an update on where we are currently.

For some of the smaller prostates that are not candidates for in-office procedures like UroLift or Rezum, that are being treated with options such as transurethral resection of the prostate or TURP, Dr. Pohlman wonders if aquablation will take the place for some of those patients too. With newer techniques, such as ejaculate preserving TURP, which we recently covered in Episode 75, we are now getting close to matching some of the outcomes of aquablation in terms of ejaculate preservation. Dr. Pohlman is curious to see how the outcomes of aquablation compare to ejaculate preserving TURP as more outcomes data gets collected.

Links: 

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Go to the Prostate Health Academy to sign up for the wait-list for our bonus video content. 

You can access Dr. Pohlman’s free mini webinar, where he discusses his top three tips to promote men’s prostate health, longevity, and quality of life here.