MAYWOOD, IL.—Loyola Medicine is offering an innovative, fast and minimally invasive, one-time treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, a common condition affecting most older men.
By age 50, more than 50% of men (and more than 90% by age 85) suffer from BPH, which causes a variety of uncomfortable and disruptive symptoms, including:
- Night time waking to urinate (nocturia)
- An increased frequency and urgency to urinate
- The feeling that the bladder has not quite emptied following urination
- A weak urine stream
If left untreated, BPH can lead to more serious urinary, bladder and kidney problems.
The condition typically evolves over many years, when non-cancerous, unnecessary tissue grows within the urethra, says Loyola urologist and Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine professor of urology Kevin McVary, MD, in a Loyola Medicine video. Dr. McVary is also the director of the newly opened Men’s Health Center at the Loyola Center for Health in Burr Ridge.
“Around the mid-20s, there’s a small portion of the prostate, called the transition zone, which suddenly begins to grow new tissue,” says Dr. McVary. The transition zone is located in the urethra, “the outlet of the bladder to the outside world, where it can block the flow of urination.”
Prescription medication can minimize BPH symptoms, but often with side effects that may include sexual dysfunction. Loyola offers a new water vapor therapy (RezumÔ), which takes less than 10 minutes and involves the insertion of a scope into the urethra (administered with anesthesia).
“Just a drop of water is converted to steam, actually inside the handle of the instrument,” says Dr. McVary. “The steam travels through the prostate tissues, between the cells, and within nine seconds has killed any prostate cell it touches.”
As the procedure is “confined to only the obstructive tissue,” it does not diminish or alter a patient’s sexual function. A recent study by Dr. McVary, published in the Journal of Urology, found that the procedure continued to offer “significant improvements in lower urinary tract symptoms, quality of life and flow rate at five years post procedure.
Many men “are not interested in taking medication for the rest of their life,” says Dr. McVary. This is a one-time, “definitive procedure” that can safely and quickly eliminate BPH and related symptoms.
To learn more about Loyola Medicine, visit loyolamedicine.org.
About Dr. McVary Dr. McVary is a professor of urology at Loyola Medicine. He joined Loyola from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIU), where he was chair of the department of urology. Prior to SIU, Dr. McVary was director, Sexual Dysfunction, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Dr. McVary has held leadership roles in clinical organizations. He has served as president of the Chicago Urological Society, chair of the American Urological Association (AUA) clinical guidelines panel for benign prostate hyperplasia, a member of AUA clinical guidelines panels for erectile dysfunction and Peyronie’s disease, associate editor of the Journal of Urology, co-chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Sexual Function Committee, chair of the Strategic Planning Committee of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), chair of the NIDDK urology section and advisor to the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiologic Health. He has published more than 290 peer-reviewed research articles. Dr. McVary was named to Chicago magazine and Castle Connolly Top Doctor lists.
Dr. McVary earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Northwestern University, where he also completed a residency in urology and a fellowship in neuro control of pelvic function. He is board certified in urology and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
About Loyola Medicine Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago’s western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital and MacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from more than 1,800 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. Loyola is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. & Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois’s largest burn center, a certified comprehensive stroke center and a children’s hospital. Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. Gottlieb is a 254-licensed-bed community hospital in Melrose Park with the newly renovated Judd A. Weinberg Emergency Department, an adult day care program, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness, the Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery and Bariatric Care and the Loyola Cancer Care & Research facility at the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Center. MacNeal is a 374-licensed-bed teaching hospital in Berwyn with advanced medical, surgical and psychiatric services, acute rehabilitation, an inpatient skilled nursing facility and a 68-bed behavioral health program and community clinics. Loyola Medical Group, a team of primary and specialty care physicians, offers care at over 15 Chicago-area locations. For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org.
About Trinity Health
Trinity Health is one of the largest multi-institutional Catholic health care delivery systems in the nation, serving diverse communities that include more than 30 million people across 22 states. Trinity Health includes 92 hospitals, as well as 106 continuing care locations that include PACE programs, senior living facilities and home care and hospice services. Its continuing care programs provide nearly 2.5 million visits annually. Based in Livonia, Michigan, and with annual operating revenues of $19.3 billion and assets of $27 billion, the organization returns $1.2 billion to its communities annually in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. Trinity Health employs about 125,000 colleagues, including about 7,500 employed physicians and clinicians. For more information, visit www.trinity-health.org.
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